In search of Darkness
by Najel
Summary: While having trouble with the loss of one of her closest friends, Lara runs into on old enemy and finds out about his dark plans.
1. Old enemies

_Disclaimer: I do not own Tomb raider and the characters mentioned in this story._

_This story takes place after Underworld_

_I would like to point out that English is not my main language and I apologize for any bad spelling. Have fun reading the story and I love to know what you think of it so far._

**Chapter 1: Old Enemies.**

It's been six months since Alister died. Lara still misses him, there are so many things in the manor that remind her of him. But she has to move on, he would have wanted that. Zip and Winston seemed to be doing better than she does. She missed their conversations, which sometimes could last for hours about anything historic.

A deep sigh left her mouth, she was too far lost in thought to notice she did this. The tear that escaped her left eye did get noticed. She wiped it away smoothly with the tip of her finger, the last thing she wanted was Winston or Zip seeing her cry.

Lara looked down at her desk, one of Alister's favorite books was lying on it. She had tried to read it, but she couldn't concentrate enough to read at least one page today.

She has to try and set her mind on something else. Which isn't easy at the moment. Tomb raiding was on the low, there wasn't anything that pulled her interest lately. Was there? Or is it because she is just too busy thinking about Alister.

"Are you alright Lara?"

She looked up in the eyes of her butler, he looked worried. Which was well in his right, at the moment Lara probably didn't look very happy.

"I miss him and I just can't put him out of my mind." She said. "How do you do it?"

Winston shakes his head.

"You have to move on Lara, go back to work, go adventuring."

"Adventuring? There is nothing to do lately."

At her words, almost as if faith waited for her to say this, all power at the manor went down.

"I had to say it, didn't I?" Lara stood up and strode out of the library. "Zip better got something to do with this."

Winston followed her, but they barely just left the library when Lara almost bumped into Zip, and he looked worried.

"Lara, we have a problem." He said, handing her a gun.

"Bugger."

"What do we do?" Winston asked.

"You two hide in the library, I'll go and find out who our uninvited guests are."

However, Zip disagreed.

"You can't go alone Lara."

She turned to him and smiled. "Thank you for your concerns Zip, but I will be just fine."

She took off, feeling the worried eyes of her two friends in her back. Her first stop was the computer room. There wasn't anyone there yet. But then she heard footsteps, they were close too. She quickly hid behind one of the desks.

"We need her alive."

Lara peeked around the corner of the desk, two men carefully walked into the room. They wore black military clothing, and not to forget, firearms. They completely ignored the computer room and headed straight for the library. Lara slightly panicked, the last thing she wanted them to do is head for Zip and Winston, she had to distract them into her direction.

Her foot stretched out to one of the chairs, she pushed it aside and it crashed against the glass wall. Not too loud, but loud enough to get the attention of the two men. _Good boys_. They advanced towards her. Lara duck her head further down, but could hear from their footsteps how far away they were.

The rifle of one of the men came in sight, that was her signal. She grabbed it and yanked it forward, completely surprising the mercenary. Now in possession of the rifle, Lara jumped to her feet and the moment she landed the butt of the rifle was smashed against the man's cheek. He was out in an instant.

But it wasn't over yet, the second man remained. And his rifle now was inches from her face. Lara was barely fast enough to slam her rifle against his arm, killing his aim. The bullet he fired gazed her left upper arm. A round house kick disarmed the man and she pointed the rifle directly at his head.

"That's not very nice, is it. And here I thought you needed me alive."

She saw the man's eyes widen, he just realized the mistake he almost made. Lara chuckled and then knocked him out. There had to be more, she better not waste time. She removed the spare magazines these men had and the one in the rifle and hurried out of the computer room. However, Lara was forced to stop when suddenly more men appeared from all around her. She counted six.

The closest one was her first victim. She ran straight at him, her fist connected with his cheek, the man was down, for a while at least. She felt another man nearing her from behind. The butt of his rifle almost connected with the back of her head. But Lara turned and placed her elbow at the back of his neck.

That was another one down, four more to go.

Lara was tackled to the ground, she saw a fist coming straight at her, but she rolled away and the poor man hit nothing but the solid floor of Croft manor. He screamed out in pain, Lara left him in his agony for the moment, she jumped back on her feet and faced another goon. She dodged his attack, hitting back with a kick in his stomach. But he blocked it, his other hand immediately shot out to her throat.

Lara reached for his arm, he held his grip around her throat, refusing to let go. The tomb raider gasped for breath, but then she smirked at him. Her leg moved up, placing her knee with brute force in his stomach. The man was forced to let go of her throat and gasped in pain. Lara was about to kick him again. But suddenly a strong blast wave threw her backwards. "Enough!"

She crashed against the glass wall of the computer room and slid down to the floor, fighting to stay conscious. She had hit the wall pretty hard, her head throbbed and her view was slightly blurred. Lara could see more men entering the room, they hurried over to her and formed a circle to prevent her from causing any more trouble.

There wasn't much she could do now anyway. She was still sitting with her back against the wall, her body protested against any kind of movement. That crash will leave a nasty bump on the back of her head.

Some of the men moved aside, to make a passage for someone to pass through. The man who passed through wore a black suit, with over it a black leather coat. Calm and confident he walked towards her, and only just now Lara realized who it was. The surprise on her face clearly satisfied him, he smirked at her and kneeled down to reach for the gun she obviously still had in her possession.

Lara didn't stop him, of course not. Even if she wanted to she couldn't. Her body won't allow it, for the moment.

"Miss Croft, things will never be simple with you around, will they?"

Lara shrugged. "Yes well I'm a complicated girl."

The man continued searching her, he removed the magazines she had taken off the men in the computer room and then stood back up. If things weren't bad enough already, Lara saw another familiar face approaching from the library.

"Master Karel, we were unable to find the remaining inhabitants."

Karel nodded. "That's alright Gunderson, we don't need them. Keep an eye open though, I don't want any more trouble."

Lara frowned, where did Zip and Winston go. Well maybe it was best she didn't know either, for their sake.

"Where are your friends hiding, Miss Croft?"

"I wish I knew."

Karel shakes his head. "Simple Miss Croft, I like things simple."

"I told them to hide in the library, but obviously they aren't there anymore, because mister muscles just told you he couldn't find them."

Gunderson growled at her, not happy with nickname she had just given him. Lara disagreed and smiled. She noticed the throbbing in her head had faded. Lara risked an attempt to stand back on her feet. She expected Karel to stop her, but he didn't.

The dizziness shortly returned, she closed her eyes for a few seconds and took a deep breath. Her eyes opened and Karel still stood in front of her. Maybe some part of her hoped this was all just a bad dream and she was going to wake up any moment.

"Very well, let's move to another subject. The Chirugai Miss Croft, where is it?"

Lara frowned. "What?"

Karel had lost some of his patience and slapped Lara fiercely. Her left cheek burned from the pain, but she gritted her teeth and bit it away.

"The weapon that belonged to Kurtis Trent, where is it?"

Lara knew well enough what he was talking about, but she would be the last person to tell him.

"I don't have it."

"Miss Croft allow me to explain how this will go. For every lie, Gunderson over here will hurt you. Eventually you will break and tell me where it is. Or if you don't, I at least had the pleasure of seeing you suffer and I will still find it after my men spend hours of searching your house."

Lara sighed, he had a strong point. But that didn't mean she liked it. He will definitely find it though. She never thought it was that important and just had it resting in one of the desk drawers in the library. She had hoped that maybe Kurtis would come by to retrieve it. But it had been a few years now since she last saw him in that pit with Boaz.

And now it was Karel who came to claim it.

"Miss Croft, I am running out of patience, where is the Chirugai?"

From behind Karel, Gunderson showed a knife and took a few paces closer to Lara.

"Alright, it's in the desk drawer in the library."

Karel immediately turned to one of his men and nodded. He left and returned moments later with the Chirugai.

"Well done, Miss Croft. I do hope you remain this cooperative in the following days."

Lara frowned. "What do you mean?"

Karel slowly paced towards her, his arms folded and his blue eyes were set on hers.

"Don't think we are done yet my dear. We have a long road ahead of us."

"I'm not helping you with anything."

Karel grabbed her by the shoulders and twisted her body around, making her face the glass wall.

"We shall see, Miss Croft, we shall see."

He turned and nodded at Gunderson. The tall muscled man immediately knew what to do. He walked over to Lara, lifted the handle of his rifle and slammed it at the back of Lara's neck. The tomb raider collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

Gunderson hauled her over his shoulder and made his way out of the manor. Karel followed him, he turned around for a moment and to his surprise he saw Winston standing at the door opening of the library. He didn't act, the old man was no thread. Instead he just smiled wickedly and left the room.


	2. Reasons

_Thanks for all your kind reviews so far and sorry for letting you wait ages for an update. Afraid this chapter is a bit short, but I promise the next one will be longer and hopefully a bit sooner too!_

**Chapter 2, Reasons**

Lara was rudely awakened by water splashing in her face. A headache immediately moved up, and the sharp light in the room only made it worse. She looked up and was greeted by Gunderson's grumpy expression. As much as Lara wanted to get up and punch him in the face, she very well knew it wasn't possible. The tomb raider had been seated on a chair, with her hands tied behind her back.

Before Lara had time to realize it, Gunderson's fist connected with her jaw. She flinched, that would leave a nasty bruise. He leaned in closer, pointing an accusing finger at her.

"Next time you try and make fun out of me, I will break a bone."

He kept the short space between them to try and intimidate the tomb raider. But Lara wasn't born yesterday, she kept her eyes locked on his and smirked.

"I don't know, I kind of like to call you muscles, it suits you."

He already raised his fist to deliver another punch, but it never landed.

"That's quite enough, Gunderson, I need her in one piece, for the moment."

To his own regret, Marten Gunderson lowered his fist and scowled at Lara as she laughed at him. He turned to Joachim Karel and nodded.

"Apologies, Master Karel."

While Gunderson backed away from Lara, she took the time to scan her surroundings. She seemed to be in an empty warehouse, only a few boxes were spread around the room and in a quick glance she only saw two exits, one was right in front of her, another one was a window on the roof. But for the moment escaping was impossible. Except for Karel and Gunderson, there were about five more men in the warehouse, all of them armed.

She looked up at Karel when he stepped in front of her. "Miss Croft, have you ever heard of the Ferilium?"

"The metal used to make the Chirugai, of course I've heard of it." She replied.

Karel shrugged. "Close Miss Croft, I wasn't talking about the metal, I was talking about _the Ferilium_, an ancient race specialized in crafting the very metal you are talking about."

Lara narrowed her eyes at him. "There has never been proof of their existence, only myths, stories." She said.

He chuckled, taking a few paces closer to Lara. "Oh Miss Croft, surely not even you believe that myths are just…myths."

She raised her shoulders. "Perhaps you are right. But then you obviously have found proof."

Karel nodded and reached inside his jacket pocket. He removed a small locker and held it up in the air.

"A locker, made out of the same metal as the Chirugai." He said. "Look at the back, what do you see?"

He held the locker closer to Lara, the tomb raider saw something graved on the back. Her eyes widened, she had heard that name before.

"Konstantin Heissturm." She said confused. "It still doesn't proof that the Ferilium are real."

And Karel, surprisingly, nodded in agreement. "Not yet, but I am certain that Konstantin can tell us more."

"Konstantin is dead, murdered by Eckhardt and you know that."

He shrugged and placed the locker back into his pocket. "Of course he is, but we both know someone who could tell us where exactly we can find the temple the Lux Veritartis buried him."

Lara knew who he was talking about. "Kurtis Trent…" she said softly.

Karel ironically clapped his hands. "Well done Miss Croft, well done."

"How do you know he is still alive." She wondered.

"We will soon find out."

Lara frowned and wasn't sure what he meant by that. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"I have the Chirugai, Miss Croft. And I have you. Would he still be alive, he will be here sooner or later. I'm sure you could have figured that out yourself."

Karel snapped his fingers at the guards and they slowly started to leave the room. "So I suggest, Miss Croft, you sit tight and behave yourself in the meantime, otherwise I might not be able to stop Gunderson from harming you."

Lara looked at Marten Gunderson and saw him smile at her, he wouldn't want nothing more than to stick to the promise he had made to her earlier today.

---

_Once again, it's a bit short but i hope you enjoyed it. Hope to see you soon!_


	3. Trust

**Chapter 3, Trust.**

2 Days later.

Lara had actually fallen asleep. Whether it's a good thing was yet to be seen. Something that sounded like an explosion interrupted her sleep, Lara's head immediately jerked upwards. She felt the muscles in her neck tighten up, making her regret her actions immediately.

"Bugger…" she said, moving her neck around to lessen the pain.

Her voice sounded a bit croaky, her lips were dry and she had a sore throat. Lara would really do anything for a glass of water right now. However, her thoughts for water were interrupted when she suddenly started hearing distant voices. The voices were slowly coming closer and seemed to come from the other side of the door.

That same door suddenly opened and a woman came hurrying in. Just as fast as she came running in, the door was also closed again. The woman leaned against the door, putting her weight against it.

She spotted Lara immediately. "Hey there, just a moment. I'll have you out of there in a jiffy." She said, betraying an American accent.

Lara studied the woman while she looked around for something that would no doubt barricade the door. She was about the same height as Lara, her hair was dark, slightly curly and was hanging loosely over her shoulders. The woman's eyes were as blue as the sea and Lara only just noticed she was wearing a motor suite, colored in black and white.

"Don't get me wrong, I'd love to get out of this chair but there will be I don't know how many of Karel's monkey's coming through that door soon, how on earth are we going to…"

The woman didn't give Lara time to finish explaining their current situation. She outstretched her hand to one of the shelves in the room and with a swift movement the shelve moved from its spot and was directed to the door with the woman stepping away from it.

"That'll hold em for a while." She said and hurried to Lara.

Lara blinked, she had seen something like that happening before and her memories flashed back for a split second to the day she met Kurtis in the Louvre where he did a similar thing.

"You are Lux Veritartis, you must be a friend of Kurtis?"

The woman chuckled, she pulled out a knife to cut the ropes from Lara's wrists.

"Yes I am a friend of Kurtis, my name is Kyra. But I'm definitely not Lux Veritartis."

The tomb raider frowned "Then how did you…"

They were interrupted by Karel's men bouncing against the door, trying to get in.

"Croft, you better open this door if you value your life."

That was Gunderson's voice, the woman kindly placed her hand on Lara's shoulder.

"No time for explanations, we have to get out of here before they break through the door. Climb up on the shelves and let's get out on the roof."

Lara looked up and remembered the opening she had seen there for a possible escape.

"Wonderful, nothing beats a bit of exercise after a couple of days of capture."

Lara hurried herself up on the shelves. The woman, Kyra, looked to be at least as athletic as the tomb raider and they reached the roof top around the same moment.

"I take it you have a way out of here?" Lara asked her.

Kyra smirked. "I definitely do, jump down here."

Lara followed the woman to the edge of the roof. The way down would be about six meters, making it quite difficult to jump down. Luckily there was a rather big container standing against the building, which made the jump a lot easier. While Kyra jumped down on the container Lara noticed the bike standing next to it. That would explain the motor suit she was wearing.

She followed the woman down, jumping on the container first and then landing on the ground, next to the bike. Lara recognized the model immediately because she has a similar one like that herself, a Norton.

"Loving the bike." She said as Kyra motioned her to get on it behind her.

"Thanks." She said with a smile."Watch this."

She reached for something inside her motor suit and removed a device. Lara recognized it as a detonator. The button on it was pressed and suddenly explosions were coming from all around them. Lara looked behind her and saw a few SUV's exploding and actually a couple of buildings were on fire as well.

When Lara looked back at Kyra she was confronted with a smile. "Momma always says, come prepared." She said.

Lara chuckled and held on tight when the woman sped off the terrain. Of course no one followed them, Kyra had blown up any possibility for them to follow the two women.

Guessing from the traffic signs at the side of the road they were driving, Lara saw they were in Germany and couple of miles away from Frankfurt. However, they weren't going there. Kyra drove the bike into a town called Hause. She parked the bike in front of a cheap motel, Lara caught a glimpse of the name, Das Hause. Not very original, but why should she care about that.

It looked like Kyra had already booked a room in here. She walked to a door with number eleven on it, which wasn't far from where she had parked the bike. The two women walked inside and the fact that this was a cheap hotel was once again confirmed. Practically all there was in here was a couch, a table with two chairs, a bath room and a bed room.

"Don't you think escaping went a bit too easy?" Lara asked Kyra.

"What? A little faith in my abilities too far sought?" Lara raised an eyebrow and folded her arms at the American woman. Kyra sighed. "Alright, yes you are right, it went a bit too easy."

"Who are you…really?"

The woman threw herself on the couch. "My name is Kyra Martinez and yes I am a friend Kurtis and God no I'm not Lux Veritartis."

Lara shakes her head. "But if you're not Lux Veritartis, then why can you-"

The woman cut her off. "Move things with my mind?" Lara nodded. The woman stood to her feet and walked over to Lara, leaning in closer and locking her eyes at the tomb raider. "None of your business."

Lara sighed and shakes her head. "Well then, it was nice meeting you and thank you so much for helping me, bye now."

Before Lara could even reach the door the woman already stood before it, blocking the tomb raiders path.

"Alright, I'll tell you the truth. But I very much doubt you believe me." She said.

Lara folded her arms, again. "Try me."

Kyra nodded at the table. "Please, sit down first."

Lara sighed, first hesitating but decided to sit down on one of the chairs. Kyra did the same on the other chair. She leaned back and placed her right hand with the palm down on the table.

"My name really is Kyra. Last name may have changed over the year but that doesn't really matter. No, I don't know Kurtis, personally, but I did know someone close to him."

Lara's eyes widened. "You knew Konstantin."

Kyra nodded. "Yupp, I never knew he had a son, until two days ago."

It didn't take Lara long to figure out what she meant with that. "You were eaves dropping while Karel told me about the Ferilium?"

Lara received another nod from the blue eyed woman. "Yes, I was. The amulet he showed you, still don't know how he got it, but I had it hidden in a storage house I own. I was on a trip and when I came back I discovered the amulet was gone. I been out of the country for a month, no idea when he got it and what he's done with it so far."

"My guess is not much yet, why else would he use me as bait to get to Kurtis. He must think Kurtis knows more about it."

A chuckle left Kyra's mouth. "Definitely not."

Lara narrowed her eyes at the American woman. Though she only just met her she has a feeling that this woman was a bit too confident in herself. You could call it selfish. A dangerous characteristic, what Lara learned over the years could get yourself killed.

This woman definitely did not share this experience with Lara, which was rather frustrating.

"What makes you so sure that Kurtis doesn't know anything?"

The look on her face suddenly turned a bit too serious to Lara's liking.

"Because he's dead."

Lara was startled for a moment, once again this woman sounded so sure of herself. But Lara refused to believe her. "You know I really have a hard time believing you. A few moments ago you said you never even heard of him and now you say he's dead? Sorry but I find that impossible to believe."

Kyra shrugged and instantly came with a defense. She reached down into her bag and placed a piece of paper on the table. Lara looked at it and saw a printed news article from a Czech newspaper. Much to her own regret she saw a small picture of Kurtis on the top left of the paper.

"No idea how good your Czech is, but allow me to translate. John Doe found dead outside the Strahov two days ago. Do you know this man? Please contact the Prague Police Station." Her eyes moved away from the paper, "Need I say more?"

Lara clenched her teeth together and remained silent. Despite this article she still had a feeling Kurtis isn't dead. With Lara's continued silence, Kyra explained where she found the article.

"After I heard Karel telling you about Kurtis I did some research about him. My search ended with this article."

Lara shakes her head. "I don't understand, it's a public article how can Karel have missed this?"

"Maybe he didn't and he's just as stubborn as you." She said and put the article back in her bag. "He might think it's just to make everyone believe he's dead."

"Has it ever occurred to you that he could be right?"

"The article was written almost three years ago. Don't you think he would have contacted you by now, to get his Chirugai back?"

"What if he doesn't know I had it?"

Slightly irritated Kyra threw her hands up in the air and she stood to her feet. "Look, it doesn't really matter what you or Karel think. Fact is, Karel is after the secrets of the Ferilium and we need to stop him."

"And how do you suggest we do that?"

Kyra smirked. "I know where we can find Konstantin's grave."

Lara cursed inwardly, something inside her told her not to trust this woman. She might have saved her from Karel's grasp. But Kyra seems to have so many answers to everything and Lara had no idea how she could know all this.

Even so, her options were limited, so for now she was forced to team up with her. It was still a lot better than being Karel's prisoner.

"Really, and where would that be?"

"Genoa, Italy. There is a special section in a cemetery where several important Lux Veritartis men and women are buried."

"And you know all this of course because you were befriend with Konstantin. But tell me, how do you know so much about the Lux Veritartis and claim not to be one of them while you clearly master their abilities?"

Slightly startled Kyra looked up at Lara. She must have known that question was coming her way sooner or later.

"I…uhm…" the expression on Lara's face didn't change, she wanted to know the truth. "I got expelled from the Lux Veritartis because maybe…a couple of years ago I…well, got off track."

Now what did she mean with that. "Off track, how?" the tomb raider asked.

"The Lux Veritartis have certain rules, I broke the rules."

"What did you do?"

Kyra raised her shoulders. "I might have stolen a few…things from them. But that's not who I am anymore, I've learned from my mistakes."

Great, this woman used to be or maybe even still is a thief. Even more to worry about.

"Of course you have." Lara said and immediately realized she might have sounded a bit too harsh. "Look, I really don't care as long you don't steal or betray me. Let's just focus on getting to Italy then."

Kyra gave Lara a slight nod, showing she appreciated the trust Lara gave her, for now. "Alright, so, the only transportation I have is my bike, maybe you have a faster way of getting to Italy?"

The tomb raider smiled, she definitely did have a faster way to get to Italy. "Of course, I can arrange something but I need a phone for that."

Kyra reached into her bag again. "You can borrow mine for that." She said and threw her phone to Lara.

"Thanks." Lara said.

She dialed a number she maybe knew too well and it didn't take long for the person on the other side to pick up.

"_What's the secret password?"_ a male voice said on the other side of the line.

Lara smiled. "The password is that you are bloody ugly, John." She said, knowing he would appreciate the joke.

"_Lara, lass, how have you been?"_

The tomb raider felt her eyebrow rise at his question, how has she been?

"I'd tell you I'm fine just so that I won't have you worrying about me. But as always I need your help, so I'll say I've been better."

She heard him chuckle. _"I'm all ears, Lara, what do you need?"_

"A flight to Genoa. But before you come pick us up could you make a short stop at the manor, there are a few things that I need."

"_Not a problem. I take it Zip will know what to pack?"_

Lara nodded even though she knew John couldn't see it. "Yes, he does. Just let them know you are coming and do tell them I'm fine. I reckon they would be a bit worried about me."

"_Got it, where exactly are you?"_

"Hause, a town close to Frankfurt."

"_Roger, I'll find a perfect landing spot and send the coordinates and estimated time to the phone number you used to call me."_

"Wonderful, see you soon then. Bye John."

**_As promised a longer chapter and thanks for the feedback so far!_**


	4. The Ferilium

**_Thanks for the reviews everyone. A small side step is needed before we move on!_**

**Feloner, Ferilium for Chosen one.

**Chapter 4, The Ferilium.**

Lara smiled as she watched the helicopter that dropped them off disappear into the distance. If there was one person she could really count on it was John Shugrave. She couldn't even remember the amount of times he had done her a favor. He'd kept his word and dropped the two women off on a small abandoned airport just outside of Genoa. On her back Lara had the backpack she had asked for and Zip had prepared it perfectly and even left a small note.

_Just the way you like it Lara. Good to hear you are ok, contact me if you need anything researched._

He was right, the backpack was equipped with everything she needed, GPS, flares, Swiss army knife, you never know when you have to go MacGyver style on something. And of course, Zip wouldn't even dare to forget those, her guns. Lara hates going anywhere without her guns, it just doesn't feel right.

"Looks like your buddy left us some sort of transportation."

Lara's thoughts were interrupted by Kyra's voice. She looked over her shoulder and saw the American woman pointing at a jeep.

"Yes I know, he gave me the keys." Lara waved around with a set of keys she had just removed from her bag. "Which means I will be driving."

Kyra shrugged and followed Lara to the jeep, she took her place in the passenger's seat and watched how Lara placed the GPS in front of her. The tomb raider pointed at the screen.

"Alright, so we are here. Where exactly is the cemetery?"

Kyra pointed at two different locations. "There are two, actually. One that holds the key and one where we need to use that key to open the door to the Lux Veritartis temple."

"Two locations? Would have been nice if you told me that back in Germany. Anything else I need to know?"

Kyra just looked away from Lara, folding her arms together. "Go to the western one first, we will find the key there."

Lara took a deep breath and decided to swallow her anger. But she had a feeling that sooner or later the lies and secrets this woman kept was going to get them in trouble.

**_April 23__rd__ 1576, Madrid._**

"_The Cabal, they are coming."_

"_We cannot let our secrets, our way of life, end up in their hands."_

"_Then we are left with no other options."_

"_Forfeit our lives, to save thousands, maybe millions of others. So be it, there is no other way."_

_The room was dark and shallow, three men and two women were gathered around in a circle, wearing crusaders armor and having their helmets rested on the floor to their left sides._

"_Feloner**, the time has come for you to show!" the oldest of them all spoke._

_Heavy wooden doors that kept this room closed slowly opened and a person dressed in a black robe came walking inside. No one could see who it was, they were not allowed to see the Feloner as so the rules say, but yet they all knew who it was. _

_There were only so little of them left, the war with the Cabal had caused too many losses, they knew no mercy towards a race that used to be so peaceful but had been forced into a war to try and ensure the survival of their race._

_The robed person was holding a small box and approached the circle only to stand in the middle. _

"_It is time, Feloner. You must keep our secrets, you must protect a race that will soon be extinct, except for one…"_

_The oldest man spoke again. "Protect it with your life, no one must ever know about our abilities, our secrets." He said._

_The robed figure nodded and slowly opened the box. From it, a knife was removed. A beautiful knife that had been made out of the purist of metal. The handle was completely black and the blade had been graved with symbols written in their language, a language that will die with them and live with only the one person to protect it. _

_The knife was being held up in the air as the robed person stood before the youngest one of them all. Their eyes met, and the woman in knights armor did not show any emotions. Her eyes closed when the Feloner moved the knife down, placing the tip at the woman's heart._

_But the Feloner hesitated, how could one kill your own race, your own people, friends, even family. A Feloner is trained for that, but yet with the moment at hand, it was still a rather difficult task._

"_Farewell…sister." Was what the robed person whispered before the blade was slipped into the woman's heart._

_Again the woman showed no emotions, she just clutched the wound with her hands and fell down on her knees. _

_The ritual continued and the Feloner was forced to kill every single one of them with the blade going directly into their hearts. With every life that was taken a small light would engulf the blade for a split second, as if the blade was consuming the souls of the Ferilium. _

_The oldest one remained as the other four had already made their journey to heaven. Their eyes met too, and the man could clearly see a tear coming from the eyes of the Feloner. He placed his hands on the trembling hand holding the knife._

"_Fear not, my child." He said and decided to give the robed person a helping hand by putting the blade at his heart._

_A nod went out to him and with a split second later he felt the blade being struck in his heart. The man fell to his knees and slowly felt life drifting out of his body. _

_The Feloner held the knife in the air again, what just had been done was the hardest task ever. But there was no time to grief, not now with the Cabal closing in fast. The sea blue eyes beneath the robe closed and the Feloner started speaking words in Ferilium._

_Slowly, a bright light started emitting from the dagger and spiraled down around the Feloner. The light remained for a moment and then started fading. Suddenly there was the sound of voices and armored footsteps nearing. Time was running out and the knife was quickly placed back into the box. _

_It was time to leave, but not through the entrance. The moment those doors opened it would be swarming with Cabal and all that's been done has been done for nothing. Eyes were aimed at a statue of Moses at the back of the room. The Feloner hurried to the statue and pushed the staff Moses held, backwards._

_The statue started moving forwards, from behind it, on the floor appeared a small opening, barely wide enough for one person to fit through it. Surely men dressed in heavy armor wouldn't fit through it. The Feloner, however, would.. Without hesitation it was the following step taken and a long endless tunnel seemed to be ahead._

_Before the path into darkness was taken, the Feloner reached upwards back to the staff of the statue and pulled it back again. It caused the statue to move back in its place, making it look as if no one had passed through here. Perhaps the Cabal soldiers will find the secret entrance, but by the time they do the Feloner will be long gone and fulfill the task at hand, protect their secrets as the last remaining person alive of the Ferilium race._


	5. Right

_A long chapter to make up for the long wait, thanks for the continued reviews!_

**Chapter 5, Right.**

Lara carefully strode between the graves. Kyra was walking a few paces ahead of her and obviously knew where she was going. This didn't surprise Lara much, after all she claimed to know where to find the key to Konstantin's grave. The only thing that worried her was whether this woman had more surprises up her sleeve. Kyra held a flash light in front of her. It moved carefully from right to left, aimed at the graves that surrounded them.

"Pretty sure it should be around here somewhere." She mumbled.

Lara just followed her, somewhere there was this voice in her head saying what the hell are you doing Lara, don't trust this woman Lara. She had the gut feeling something was going horribly wrong soon. She hated that feeling because nine out of the ten times she had it, she was right.

"There it is."

The tomb raider's thoughts were interrupted, her eyes landed on the grave that was being lit by Kyra's flash light. It was a simple grave, just the bit of dirt with a single flower on top of it, a rose, and a white cross rose above it. The rose looked like it had been there for a while, just about living its last blooming moments.

There was something engraved in the cross, it was written in Latin.

_Quamvis enim melius sit benefacere quam nosse, prius tamen est nosse quam facere._

"Right action is better than knowledge; but in order to do what is right, we must know what is right." Lara said, translating it to English.

Kyra looked at Lara "Words spoken by Charlemagne, or so Konstantin told me. I'm not really a historical person."

Lara nodded at her. "Yes, Konstantin was right. Charlemagne was the first leader of the Holy Roman Empire. But would that have anything to do with discovering the key?"

"I think not, let's get this grave open."

Kyra started moving away the dirt that covered the grave.

"We're just going to rob a grave?"

Kyra's blue eyes locked on Lara, she raised an eyebrow. "Like you never done that before in your life." She said with a smile.

Lara shrugged her words off and looked away. Kyra showed a small victory smile but continued digging.

"You know, I'm not really such a bad person if you get to know me."

"I'd rather not get to know you."

"Well your loss." Kyra said. "Ah, got it."

Lara looked down and saw Kyra lifting an old looking key made out of copper. The American woman stood back to her feet and wiped her clothes clean from the dirt.

"Well then, let's thank Charlemagne and let's get out of her."

"Good plan."

The two women left the graveyard and continued to the next one. It was a short twenty minutes drive before they arrived. As they made their way on the terrain Lara forced herself to a halt. She had a vibe, a feeling that told her they were being watched.

"What's wrong?" Kyra asked.

"Someone is watching us…"

Kyra looked around, but didn't seem to share Lara's feeling. "Well, there are plenty of dead people around." She joked and continued walking.

Lara shakes her head in disbelief but gave another glance over her shoulder while she followed Kyra onto the graveyard. Lara trusted her feelings, so if she felt like someone was watching her, she was absolutely certain she was right about this and it paid to be careful.

This graveyard was a lot bigger than the one they just been to. But it didn't seem as crowded as the other one. The graves however, looked a lot better maintained and bigger, telling Lara that the people buried here probably used to have a bigger status than the ones in the other graveyard.

Kyra stopped walking when they reached a small stone tomb with a wooden door. It looked to be just big enough for two coffins to fit in. Lara seriously doubted that the key they just brought was the one for this door. And she was right, a simple nudge at the handle made the door go open.

Both women lit their flash lights and walked inside. Lara closed the door behind her and then moved the flash light around the room to see what was actually in it. One coffin and a small cupboard next to it. There was one other thing that caught her eye. A cross above the coffin with the same text written on it as she saw on the other grave.

However, the clue behind that cross was so obvious even a child would see it. Kyra already moved her hand towards it and turned the cross down. These actions were followed by a rumbling sound and as Lara already expected the coffin in front of them started moving to the left, showing the two women a staircase that led down.

"I could have figured that out with my eyes closed." Lara said, obviously not to brag but to tell Kyra this was too easy.

"Yes, but why would anyone visit a family grave that's not their family? No one comes in here, so why make things more complicated than necessary. Besides, they can't get anything without the key anyway."

"Well then, you've known the way up to now, lead the way."

A chuckle followed from Kyra, but she did exactly what Lara asked her and followed the staircase that lead underground. There were no lights of any kind so they had to rely on their flash lights again. The staircase leading down looked to be rather long. It took them about five minutes to get down. Imagine how long it would take going up. Lara smiled a bit, that would be an excellent test to see if Kyra was in any shape. Of course Lara had all the confidence in herself, walking up a staircase was nothing compared to climbing up a mountain with no climbing gear on.

The first thing they saw when they reached the bottom of the stairs was another wooden door. Only this one actually was locked and held a simple key entry. But if Lara remembered the key that Kyra has correctly, it wasn't the same fitti-

Wham! Without warning Kyra kicked the door open. Lara nodded her head and smiled.

"That's the way to open a door."

Kyra smiled back.

"I lost the key, but don't tell Konstantin. He'll be pretty pissed if he finds out."

Lara chuckled and walked into the room that had appeared in front of them after Kyra kicked the door open. With the first step she took inside torches suddenly automatically lit up all around the oval shaped room.

Her eyes scanned the area moving from left to right, she caught three statues at the back of the room surrounding an altar. The statues looked to be made of bronze but the altar, the altar was made out of pure gold. The path that lead to the altar was covered by a blue carpet.

Above the altar Lara saw a chandelier also made of gold and holding dozens of candles, all mysteriously lit. And at the start of the path were two statues, on each side, of gargoyles purely made out of stone.

"Beautiful." The tomb raider said in a whisper.

The view of the room was disturbed by Kyra walking into it and moving her dirty boots over the beautiful blue carpet, heading to the altar. Lara smiled to herself, since when did she care to keep something clean. And with the smile still on her face she too made her way to the altar.

Once arrived, she admired the three statues and actually realized the statues represented angels. Guardian angels protecting the altar. All three angels looked down at the altar and when Lara did the same she saw why.

On top of the altar was a small opening, an opening ready for something to fit in it. And that something was lying above the opening, also on the altar. Three similar looking stones that would fit perfectly into the opening, but Lara was certain only one of them would actually fit.

"Interesting." Kyra said. She stood on the other side of the altar curiously looking down at the stones and moved her hand over the opening.

Lara frowned. "Am I wrong or do you actually don't know what to do next?" she asked.

"Hey, Konstantin only gave me instructions how to get in here, nothing else. But I heard you are excellent in solving puzzles."

The frown on her head increased, well wasn't that a little bit too convenient. Yes it was.

"It sure comes in handy to have me around, isn't it?"

Kyra folded her arms, her eyes locked on Lara. "Isn't that also why Karel took you in the first place?" Lara gave her an angry look. "Look, all I'm saying is, we need to figure out this puzzle as I'm pretty sure Karel will figure this all out eventually anyways."

Lara looked away from Kyra and focused on the three stones, she hates to admit it but Kyra was right. Her eyes narrowed but still locked on the stones, and then she remembered something.

"Right action is better than knowledge; but in order to do what is right, we must know what is right."

"Right!" Kyra said and also looked down on the stones. "So it was connected to all this after all."

"We need to take the right stone." Lara said.

"No shit, Sherlock."

Lara shakes her head. "You Americans." She said frustrated. "The right stone, not the one on the left, the one on the right."

Kyra shrugged. "Right." She said again to try and be funny. "But in order to know what's right, you need to know what's right."

Lara nodded. "Indeed, so it's either the right from your side, or from my side."

"I suddenly don't like Charlemagne so much anymore."

The tomb raider ignored her words, her eyes narrowed at the stones. Her left hand reached into her backpack, removing a compass. A glance on the compass told Lara she was facing south. She turned a few paces and stepped next to Kyra.

"What are you doing?" Kyra asked.

"Perhaps, when we face north, we know what is right."

Kyra had doubt in her eyes. "I'm not an expert in all this, but that sounds a bit too easy."

Lara nodded. "It is, isn't it?" She said while looking down at the stones again. "Wait a moment…"

"Hey, I'm not going anywhere." Kyra joked.

"No, look. We don't know what's right or left at the moment, right?"

"Right." Kyra said with a smile.

Lara actually had to smile back at the use of the same word all the time.

"Exactly, but the only thing we are certain of, is that the stone in the middle is actually the middle, no matter how you like at it."

Kyra nodded. "And that definitely is the right answer."

"It's still a guess."

"It's got a lot more chance on success then facing north."

"Alright then, here goes nothing." Lara said and moved the middle stone into the fitting.

Both women frowned when nothing happened. Kyra nervously looked around.

"Now what, we did it wrong and the statues come to live and will try and kill us?"

Lara was a lot more confident. "Be patient, give it some time." She said.

Her eyes scanned the altar. Lara had a hard time believing they didn't choose the right stone. And she soon realized she was right. At the left lower side of the alter she caught movement. She kneeled down and saw an opening with inside of it a box. Lara lifted the box and gently placed it on the altar.

She studied the box, it looked rather simple and made out of wood. Of course there was a keyhole in it. Lara smiled, so that's what the key was for, at least the fitting was perfect for the key and she couldn't think of anything else.

Kyra thought the same and already moved the key into the hole. The box gave a confirming click and a second later it opened. Inside of it was a knife, perfectly cut from a metal that Lara had seen only once before, on the blade of the Chirugai.

"Beautiful…" she said. "But this only is a knife, why would Karel be after this?"

Kyra raised her shoulders. "I don't know." She said. "Isn't there more?"

Kyra knelt down to see if they missed something, but this box really seemed to be the only thing to retrieve from the altar.

"Let's get out of here first, we'll find a hotel and I can contact Zip there, he might be able to help us."

Lara closed the box and advanced towards the exit, where she knew the endless staircase was waiting for them.

"Who's Zip?" Kyra asked, while she followed Lara up the stairs.

"A really close friend who helps me out a lot with research." Especially since Alister is gone, Lara thought but that was none of Kyra's business.

Kyra just replied with a nod and followed Lara up the stairs. The walk back up was rough; walking up a staircase for ten minutes is breathtaking, even for a woman like Lara. Or Kyra for that matter, because she seemed to keep up with Lara pretty easy. Once they reached the top they paused for a moment to catch their breath.

"Holy shit, that was one hell of a staircase, I wouldn't recommend having that at home."

Lara chuckled. "Good way to stay in shape." She said smiling. "Let's get going again."

Lara reached for the door to walk outside. But suddenly a hand grabbed her wrist and forcefully yanked her out outside. She never saw this coming and couldn't react in time to resist. Before she knew it she was in a chokehold and felt the metal of a gun at the side of her head.

Kyra too didn't see it coming and had been forced outside, on both her sides stood a man holding her at gunpoint. A pair of hands reached for Lara's backpack and yanked it off her back. She looked behind her but immediately regret this when she looked into the eyes of the man that was holding her.

Marten Gunderson offered her the most wicked smile ever. Lara cursed inwardly and looked away. She looked around again, if Gunderson was here chances are that Karel is too.

"Guess you were right after all." Kyra said.

"Of course she is." A too familiar voice said. "If there is one thing I've learned over the years, it's that Miss Croft often is at the right end."

Joachim Karel stepped in front of Lara, holding the box they just found in front of her.

"Just as how she has been right about choosing the right stone."

Lara frowned, how would he know that. Karel saw the frown and answered that question for her.

"Oh Miss Croft, I know a lot more then you think." He turned to Kyra. "Or than she thinks."

He removed the knife from the box, tossing the box aside like it was completely useless. He walked into Kyra's direction, without warning he slammed the knife in her abandonment. Kyra screamed in pain and collapsed on her knees when clutching the wound with the knife still in it.

"Bloody hell."

Lara might not like this woman, but she certainly didn't deserve this. There wasn't much she could do though. Gunderson still held her firmly in his grasp. Suddenly a flash of light flew over Kyra's body, what in the world was that?

"I don't know what she told you about herself, Miss Croft, but I very much doubt she told you who she really is."

Kyra looked at Lara. The tomb raider saw a lot of pain in her eyes. A wound like that would eventually be fatal and Kyra showed she knew this as well.

"But allow me to tell you the real story behind this woman. Her real name is Feloner, which is Ferilium for chosen one."

Lara felt her eyes widen, he couldn't possibly be telling her the truth, could he? She looked at Kyra for confirmation, but the American woman didn't even dare to look Lara in the eyes. That was the confirmation she wasn't really looking for, Karel was right.

Karel just laughed and pulled out the other object made by the Ferilium, the Chirugai. "You see, Miss Croft. Ferilium are immortal beings, like me. But of course for every immortal there is a way to kill it. And for Ferilium it's their very own metal that will mean their end."

He moved a fingertip over one of the Chirugai's blades, slowly walking back to Lara. Lara watched him closely; she didn't trust his intensions with the Chirugai at all.

"A good thing you found the dagger, no?" he said smiling.

The Chirugai was tossed to the ground, treated like a piece of trash Karel cared nothing about.

"How…how do you know so much about the Ferilium? I've kept our race a secret for hundreds of years…"

Someone suddenly emerged from the shadows behind Kyra. A man who looked to be in his late fifties appeared in sight. His hair was short and grey and he was dressed in a tight suit. One hand in the pocket of his pantaloon, the other hand placing a smoking cigar in his mouth.

Lara had no idea who this man was, but by the surprised reaction on Kyra's face she could tell she was going to find out soon.

"Father…?"

The man chuckled and stepped in front of her, closing down the space between them.

"Feloner."

He pulled the cigar out of his mouth and threw it on the grass next to them. His foot moved up and pressed the cigar into the ground, making sure it would stop burning. His hand moved up and caressed her cheek. Kyra looked confused and had no clue what was happening.

"I…I killed you, I saw you die…"

He shakes his head. "Think back to the ceremony, Feloner." He said with a smirk.

Kyra did as he said but couldn't think of anything that had been off during the ceremony.

"We both held the knife when you pierced it through my heart, my darling daughter. When the last one of the Ferilium is stabbed the souls merge with the barer of the dagger, which were you and me. A small detail I purposely kept from you during your training."

"Impossible, you were one of the five souls."

He smirked. "True, it looked as if I died at first. But that was needed to make you believe I was really dead."

The American woman shakes her head, fighting tears that were watering in her eyes. "Why?" was all she asked him.

"Why she asks…isn't the answer obvious. Immortality, my dear. Why would I give up my immortality to keep that what made us big a secret? Why not share it with someone and accomplish things we've never could have dreamed of doing."

She looked away from her father, suddenly realizing he was not the man she thought she knew. Lara couldn't help but feel sorry for her. There was nothing worse than being betrayed by a member of your family.

The tomb raider suddenly saw something move in the corner of her eyes. She looked to her left and saw nothing. First she thought she imagined it, but then she realized something.

_Bloody hell, the Chirugai was right there just a moment ago._

She wasn't imagining things; it really was there just a few seconds earlier. She remembered Karel throwing it there. But there was no sign of it anymore. Could that mean-

"And you know." Kyra's father said, interrupting Lara's thoughts. "You can't fool me with that knife. I know it's a fake."

Without warning he yanked the knife out of her body. Kyra flinched when he did this. He held it up in front of him and moved his hand over the blade. A small light covered the knife and all of the sudden it looked exactly like one of the periapt shards Lara used to kill Eckhardt.

Karel stepped next to him and took the knife from his hands. His eyes remained on the knife while he spoke to Kyra.

"Interesting, a trick in the hopes to kill me." Now his eyes fell on Kyra. "I'm sorry to tell you but it will take a lot more then this scrappy piece of crystal to get rid of me."

Probably till everyone's surprise she suddenly pulled up a smile. And Lara thought that she also appeared to be in better shape now that they discovered her plan.

"What are you smiling at, hmm?" her father asked.

He barely even spoke the words when they heard something flying at them from the sky. Karel looked up and saw the Chirugai missing him for only a few inches. His eyes followed the weapon and he saw it land in the back of Kyra's father, right under his shoulder.

This was the perfect moment to mount an escape. Without any hesitation Lara knocked her head back. It connected with Gunderson's nose and Lara could have sworn she heard a cracking sound. Gunderson lost his grip on Lara and staggered backwards, dropping his gun. The tomb raider quickly turned and saw his nose bleeding heavily and greeted him with a teasing smile.

At the same moment, Kyra had started her own escape. While her father still tried to recover from the Chirugai piercing in his back, she managed to turn behind one of the two men guarding her. Lightning fast she put her hand on his shoulder, turned around him and slammed her elbow at the back of his neck, knocking him out instantly.

Quickly as she could she kneeled down. Apparently just in time because the other man just fired his gun at her. The bullet missed her for only a few inches and while she knelt down she tackled him. He felt down on the ground and was dazed, unable to cause a threat for the moment.

Lara watched as she saw Kyra tackle one of Karel's men. The only threat left standing now was Karel. But to their own surprise he didn't move and looked at something at Kyra's right. Both women turned to whatever he was looking at and were surprised when they saw a man aiming a gun not at Karel, but at Kyra's father.

"This gun is loaded with your trademark bullets; please give me a reason to shoot you."


	6. Square one

_Hey all, finally i managed to update my story. Sorry for letting you wait for so long. I been working really long on this chapter. I foced myself to rewrite it a couple of times even so i hope you like it. Some questions are answered in this chapter, let me know what you think!_

**Chapter 6, Square one.**

"Kurtis."

His name, much to Lara's own surprise, was spoken out by Kyra. The edge in her voice betrayed the surprise of his arrival. But most of all it proved that Kyra knew him, something which she had made Lara believe not to be true.

"I thought you said you didn't know him."

The words were said before she even realized. Kyra looked at her; she was startled but at the same time realized her mistake. Her shoulders moved up for a split second to try and find an excuse, she couldn't find any.

"I lied." Was the best she could come up with.

"Well there's a shocker."

"Ladies" Kurtis interrupted the two women before the situation got out of hand. "Perhaps you want to pull each other's hair out some other time. I think we've got some more pressing matters at hand."

Lara looked at him, he'd changed a bit. The long locks of hair were gone now. In fact, the facial hair he had was even longer and looked to have been untouched for a couple of months. Together with the pair of jeans which had a few holes in it and the sloppy shirt that was half tucked out of his jeans he could easily pass as a street junky.

"You are no fun, are you Mister Trent."

Her thoughts were interrupted by Karel. The Nephilim did not agree with Kurtis' opinion about the argument between the two women. Unfortunately she had to agree with Kurtis, this discussion will have to take place at another time.

"We can have tea together some other time, Karel." Lara joked.

He pulled up a wicked smile at her words. "Of that I am sure Miss Croft, don't you worry about that."

"Yeah, yeah. Time for us to leave now." Kurtis said.

The gun in his hand was moved away from Kyra's father. It was a clue for Karel to make his move, his right hand already lit up with crackling energy. What he didn't know was that Kurtis had a reason for pulling his gun away. He fired it, aiming at something behind the two men and not a split second later there was a loud explosion.

The force of the explosion threw Lara backwards; she landed on her back but had no time to recover on her own. A hand got hold of her arm and she was hauled to her feet with such force that she almost stumbled back down again. Once she finally had control of her own body again she looked up to see who was dragging her along.

"Get your hands off of me, Kurtis." She said angrily and yanked her arm free from his grasp.

Kurtis frowned at her, but understood her hostility and decided not to say anything to her right now. They kept on running away from the cemetery; Kyra was slightly ahead of them, heading towards a black van which no doubt belonged to Kurtis.

"Let's get out of here, before they catch up with us." Kyra said and hurried herself behind the wheel of the van.

Lara took a quick glance behind her; the only thing she could see was smoke and fire. All three of them knew the explosion wouldn't kill them, but it gave them just enough time to make their escape. Though Lara had a feeling Karel wouldn't be following them anyway. She turned back around and stepped into the van. Kurtis did the same; Kyra already had the van moving before he'd even had a chance to close the door.

* * *

The first five minutes of their escape from the cemetery was silent. No one said a word which only worked on Lara's nerves. The last few days she's been kidnapped, freed by a woman who's a star at telling lies, she discovered an old Lux Veritartis tomb and she almost got blown to hell by a man she thought to be dead. The worst part of it all is that she feels like she's been used by Kyra and Kurtis.

"Stop the car."

Kurtis glanced over his shoulder, giving her a confused look.

"What?"

"I said stop the car." Lara almost yelled.

"Lara we have to keep moving, they will catch up with us."

Lara locked her eyes on him; there was plenty of anger in them. "Bloody nonsense, if they wanted to catch up they already would of and you know that. Now stop the bloody car!" she demanded.

Kyra did as Lara asked; anything to keep this woman from yelling any louder. The moment they stopped Lara opened the door and stepped out, heading into the direction they came from.

"Lara!" Kurtis yelled after her.

"Kurtis if she runs off we will find her dead pretty soon." Kyra stated the obvious.

"I know, I got this just wait here."

Kurtis jumped out of the van, his feet landing in a rather deep pool of water and mud. The American growled. "For the love of…" He looked up and saw the distance between him and Lara growing. Stepping out of the muddy pool he hurried his way to Lara and blocked her path, forcing the tomb raider to a halt.

"Get out of my way, Kurtis."

"Lara, you need to come back with us, if Karel finds you, you're as good as dead."

She folded her arms together. "Oh and now you care?" she said angrily.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Before Lara had time to realize her sudden moment of anger, her hand lashed out and she punched Kurtis in the face, hitting him perfectly in the jaw.

"You used me, both of you did." She said pointing behind him where Kyra had gotten out of the van and was leaning against it. "Instead of asking for my help, you had me kidnapped by a man who can practically kill me by snapping his fingers."

Kurtis shakes his head. "How could I have known he would come to you?" He lied.

"Oh please Kurtis, you knew I had the Chirugai."

He opened his mouth to no doubt say something that would make Lara even angrier then she already was, he realized just in time that was not the best thing to do.

"Look, Lara, this is not the time or place to discuss this, we need to go somewhere safe."

"Oh I will come back with you, don't worry about that." She said and saw a brief moment of relief on his face. "But not until you tell me everything and if I spot even one lie I'm out of here and you can only hope I don't get myself killed."

Kurtis locked his eyes on hers, they showed confidence. It was clear there was no getting out of her determination, which he had to admit, was only fair towards her. He nodded at the tomb raider.

"I met Kyra about half a year ago. As the only living Lux Veritartis she contacted me and told me Karel was going to uncover the secrets of her race and asked for my help to get rid of him for once and for all."

He reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a cigarette. He moved it up to his mouth and lit it with a lighter which was removed from his front pocket.

"Of course I didn't believe her at first, it took her some convincing but I'm guessing you couldn't give a rat's ass about that part of the story so I'll-"

Lara cut him off by pulling the cigarette from his mouth and throwing it on the ground only to step on it and stop the cigarette from burning.

"You're right I don't, get to the point."

He grimaced and nodded, deciding not to light another cigarette and placed the pack and lighter back in his pocket.

"As you know, Kyra and my father knew each other. The shard was created to kill a Nephilim, every Lux Veritartis member had one. But as he was the only one left alive he knew he had to hide it. As a Ferilium, Kyra used her abilities to make it look like it was a Ferilium weapon and together they hid it in the tomb where you found it with her."

"Konstantin died shortly after we hid the shard."

Lara looked up and saw Kyra had joined into the conversation. She nodded at Lara, admitting in her own weird way that what they had done was not fair towards Lara.

"I know it's hard to believe but trust me when I say we never meant to get you involved, I was supposed to get the shard, Kurtis would lure Karel to the tomb and then we would kill him. But then we found out he got you, Kurtis convinced me to rescue you and slightly change the plan."

Lara narrowed her eyes, they still held anger. "Yes, you used me to uncover the shard while you could have easily done it yourself." Her eyes moved to Kurtis. "You should have known better Kurtis, you trusted me in the Strahov, why not now?"

He lowered his head; he had no answer to that question and even showed some shame. Kyra had the answer, perhaps not what Lara was looking for.

"Because I didn't trust you." She said

Her words only increased Lara's anger, Kyra quickly spoke up again before she too would get a right hook to the jaw.

"My race has been extinct because we trusted the wrong people. I was left alive to protect our secrets, to protect who we are, what we represent. One time, years ago, I put my faith in someone who betrayed me, which almost cost me my life and everything I worked so hard to protect. And now I have been betrayed again, by my own flesh and blood. I'm sorry if you don't understand my feelings of distrust towards you. But you have no idea how heavy the burden is that I'm carrying."

Kyra's voice was stern, determined and showed a slight hint of disappointment, no doubt because of her father's betrayal. Lara fell silent; this woman had made her point. Lara couldn't even begin to imagine what this woman had gone through, if she really was Ferilium. No, there was no reason to doubt that, the abilities she had shown during Lara's rescue. Not to mention the fact that she had been stabbed and seemed to have fully recovered from it. Perhaps it was time to start over and just forget what had happened the last few days.

Their eyes met and Lara nodded. "Very well, what's done is done." She said and received a nod back in return.

"I agree, let's start with a clean sheet." She looked down at Kurtis. "And a clean pair of boots and jeans for you."

Kurtis scowled at her. "Haha, very funny."

"Come on, let's get going again." Kyra said smiling and headed towards the van.

Lara and Kurtis followed her. "I'll make some calls to get us back to my manor; there you can get cleaned up. I'll even have some decent clothes for you, Kurtis."

The American stopped and looked down at his clothes. "What's wrong with my clothes, besides the fact there's mud on them." He wondered.

Lara placed her hands on her hips and frowned at him, was he serious?

"Really, Kurtis? You look like a street junky. And I didn't even mention the beard yet."

Kurtis touched his beard and kept on looking down at his clothes, it wasn't that bad was it. Lara just laughed and opened the door to the van. Kurtis followed her but then he remembered something.

"Oh Lara."

"Hmm?" she said, looking up.

Kurtis smiled as he saw something coming at her from behind. "Duck!" he yelled and in pure reflex she did just that. Kurtis held his hand up and catches the object Lara had just managed to evade. She stood back on her feet and saw him holding the Chirugai.

"Was that really necessary?"

He held a big smirk as he answered her question. "No one makes fun of the beard."


	7. Regroup

_Hope you are all with me still on this story, I know my updates are slow but I will keep on writing it till the ending._

**_Chapter 7: Regroup_**

_1 Day later._

"Your new friend looks troubled, Miss Croft." Winston said as he studied the woman standing in front one of the many windows of the manor that offered a view on the garden.

Lara stepped next to him as her eyes moved to the American woman. "She's not my friend Winston." She said.

"Then why did you bring her here?" he asked.

"She's Kurtis' friend." Lara stated.

Winston smiled. "In that case, Kurtis' friend looks troubled."

Lara knew this was a battle she couldn't win from the butler, shaking her head; she walked towards Kyra and chose her spot on the woman's left side. Looking outside, she was wondering if something had actually caught her attention or if she really was just staring blankly in front of her.

"I couldn't image you'd be currently enjoying the view." Was all she could come up with.

"What?" Kyra probably agreed with her.

"The garden, I never really liked it."

Kyra looked around the house, Lara could probably guess what the American woman was going to say next.

"Looks like you have plenty of resources to have it redone."

Lara could tell her she preferred to keep it this way as a memory to her father, who really loved the garden and spend a lot of time in there when she was still a kid. But she didn't feel like talking about her father, nor did she believe Kyra would be interested about him.

"Winston likes it, and he spends more time in this house then me."

"Out adventuring most of the time are you?"

"Or being kidnapped."

Lara had barely said the words and realized this was a low blow from her side.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have said that." She quickly said.

Kyra nodded slightly at Lara. "Don't worry about it."

"Don't worry about what?"

That voice belonged to Kurtis and both women looked away from the window. Lara raised an eyebrow at him while Kyra slightly gasped. Kurtis was now cleanly shaven and he was wearing a pair of jeans and a white shirt, which he borrowed from Zip. With the decent set of clothes and the beard shaven he suddenly looked a lot more attractive.

"What?" he asked again when the two women kept staring at him.

Lara was the first one who realized how awkward the situation must be for him. "Nothing important." She lied, quickly changing the subject. "I see you ditched the beard."

"With pain in my heart." He said.

"Oh please." Kyra said. "A beard that long should be illegal."

Kurtis got a bit frustrated with the two women, who, much to his own surprise, seemed to be getting along a bit better.

"Enough with the two of you." He said, pointing an accusing finger at the two women, "Let's discuss what to do next."

"What to do next is for me to keep my people's secrets away from my father and Karel." Kyra said.

"You're certain they're not already in your father's possession?" Lara asked.

"Definitely not. I was assigned to keep the scrolls safe. Those scrolls are impossible to copy and I'm positive I still have all ten of them."

"You can't say that Kyra." Kurtis started. "You had no idea your father was still alive. For all we know he's been following you for years and is getting the scrolls with Karel as we speak."

Lara shakes her head and clearly disagreed. "I don't think so Kurtis. If he knew already they wouldn't have let us escape so easily." She said.

"Are you saying they let us escape on purpose?"

"Yes, Kurtis. That's what I'm saying."

Kurtis frowned, realizing what Lara was getting at. "They expect Kyra to check up on the scrolls now that she knows her father is back." He said.

"And when I finally do they will try to kill us, get the scrolls and destroy everything I've worked so hard for over the years, I cannot allow that to happen."

"So what do you ladies suggest we do then?"

"Well from where I see it, we have two problems. Kyra's father and Karel. I believe we should focus on Karel for the time being. Like he said, the shard we had to kill him wouldn't cut it."

"Is there even a way to kill him with no shards left?" Kyra asked

Both women looked at Kurtis, the two of them expected him to know this as he was the last remaining Lux Veritartis member. But the American raised his shoulders and was as clueless as the two women.

"Why look at me, you spend a part of your life with my father, Kyra." He said.

"All I knew was the shard, nothing else."

"That makes two of us and leads us to a dead end." Kurtis said.

"Not necessarily." Lara immediately spoke and received two pair of confused eyes. "You two really should have paid more attention to history classes."

"What? I hated history." Kurtis said laughing.

"I'm part of history." Kyra said, smirking at Kurtis.

Kurtis smiled, shaking his head. "All the more reason you should know what Lara is talking about." He said.

"I might, if I knew what she was referring to."

"Charlemagne." Lara quickly said.

"You mean the guy Konstantin kept talking about, the quotes at the graves?"

"Yes Kyra, exactly that."

"Ok, I'll admit, you're the archaeologist, we aren't. Now if you could please elaborate."

"Follow me."

Lara walked out of the living room with Kurtis and Kyra following her closely. They passed the library and saw she made her way to a room with a lot of computers in it. Kyra couldn't help but give the library a quick peek; she thought it was quite big, perhaps even bigger than the average library she had been to.

Not to mention the room with all the computers, how this woman could find her way around in this castle was beyond her. Kyra would get lost instantly. She wondered what else was built in here, though she had to admit the library as well as the computer room looked very well organized.

"What else do you have in this place, a training course for the military?" She said sarcastic.

Lara looked at her over her shoulder and smirked. "Don't be surprised if we do." She said and walked inside the computer room.

Lara saw Zip working behind one of the computers. The computer expert looked up at the sight of his friend.

"Hey Lara, what's up?" he wondered.

"Hello Zip, could you do me a favor?" he nodded "I need a list of all the museums that are connected to Charlemagne.

"Sure Lara, give me a minute."

All three of them watched how Zip started entering some commands on his keyboard. It seemed he kept his word, even within the minute he walked to the printer and then walked to Lara, handing her the result of his search.

Lara scanned through the list of museums, there were quite a few. "British Museum, there is one in Germany, Aachen that might be interesting, or perhaps the Vatican Museum. Not easy, quite the long list you gave me, Zip." She said.

"So you are expecting that somewhere in the world there is a museum which has a topic about Charlemagne and could tell us more about how to destroy Karel?" Kyra wondered.

Lara nodded in response. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm expecting." She said.

"Bit of a long shot, don't you think?"

"I would more call it an archaeologist's intuition."

Zip nodded. "Oh she's good at that, trust me." He said.

"Wait a second…"

All three of them looked up at Kurtis, who seemed to be quite far away with his thoughts.

"What?" Lara asked.

"From when I was about eight years old my father would take me on vacation to Rome every year. We even went to the museum there a couple of times." He suddenly seemed to remember.

Lara smiled and looked at Kyra. "See, an archaeologist's intuition."

Kyra shakes her head in disbelief but of course she held her smile. "One nil to the UK then I guess." She said.

"And that while I'm in a room filled with yanks."

Zip went to sit back on his chair. "You want me to arrange transportation to Rome for the three of you?"

"I don't think it's a good idea if we are all going." The tomb raider said.

"I agree." Both Kyra and Kurtis said.

"Then who should go?"

"The two of you should go." Kyra said. "Knowing that they'll be keeping an eye on me I think I should take advantage of that."

Lara understood Kyra's point. "You will just be going to several locations to keep them off our trail so Kurtis and I can go to Rome without a problem." She said.

Kyra nodded. "But not just any place, I have a certain location in my mind." She said. "But I'm going to have to fly to Switzerland, Zurich to be exact."

"Not going to be a problem." Lara said. "Zip, arrange a flight for two to Rome and a flight for one to Zurich."

The computer expert nodded and was already entering commands into his computer. "Consider it done."


	8. Holy Ground

_A small thanks to Gyikhu for this chapter! Thanks __Gyikhu ;)_

**Chapter 8, Holy ground**

Rome is a beautiful city, with plenty of sights. Like the Piazza della Repubblica Lara was looking at from the balcony of her hotel room. Piazza della Repubblica stands for Square of the Republic. The square holds a beautiful fountain which was built in 1888, it originally held four lions. The lions were replaced in 1901 by four Naiads, as it's now called Fontana Delle Naiadi, the fountain of the Naiads. Every one of them represents a different type of water, a lake, a river, the sea and underground waters.

Lara knew exactly which Naiad represented which kind of water. The one leaning over the dragon for example was the one for underground waters. And the one…her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door to her room closing. She glanced over her shoulder shortly and noticed Kurtis walking towards her. Lara looked back and continued studying the fountain; Zip definitely had picked a good hotel for them.

Lara wished Alister was here with her; he would have loved to see the fountain and no doubt kept on talking about it the entire day. She noticed Kurtis standing next to her. He leaned on the edge of the balcony with his arms and observed the fountain as well, though Lara was sure his reasons were a lot different than hers.

"Why on earth are you looking at four naked women surrounding a man?" he asked.

"Why on earth are you walking into my room without knocking?" she said in response, holding her gaze at the fountain.

"I asked you a question first."

She decided to look away from the fountain now, and she was greeted by a cheeky smile from the American.

"Well, if you must know, I was admiring the craftsmanship and the history behind the fountain. They are not just four naked women and the man in the middle isn't just some man, there is a story behind it, Kurtis."

"Really, who is he then?"

"Do you really care that the man is a fisherman representing the fight between mankind and the forces of nature?"

"Not really, no." he replied.

"Then allow me to tell you that next time, you knock on the door before entering my room."

He chuckled at her. "Or you could just lock your door."

Lara raised an eyebrow at him, placing her hands on her hips. "Really…Kurtis…?"

"Alright, alright…I was just joking, don't get angry now. Why are we staying in a hotel anyways, the Museum is open today we can go in now."

Lara turned her back to the fountain and made her way back into the hotel room. "Because…I realized something on our way to Rome." She said.

Kurtis followed her closely. "Which is?" he wondered.

"That it's Saturday today."

"And that's special?"

"Yes, that means tomorrow it's Sunday, the last Sunday of the month even. Every last Sunday of the month the museum is open for public view for free, which means it's going to be very crowded in the museum."

"But do we really want that? Isn't it better if there's as little people around as possible, in case we might have to take something back with us?" he asked.

Lara shook her head. "I very much doubt so. I believe all we find there is a lead, a hidden message to another location." She paused shortly. "But if we should bring something with us the best option is to go back after closing hours."

"If that's even possible." Kurtis stated.

"Perhaps, but that is something we should worry about later." She replied. "For now it's best to draw as little attention to ourselves as possible, which is easier in a big crowd."

Kurtis nodded in agreement. "Do you think Karel sent someone after us?" he wondered.

"I'm hoping he didn't and that he sent someone after Kyra. We should still keep our eyes open though."

"Agreed, let's just hope Kyra doesn't run into too much trouble in Zurich."

"I'm sure she can look after herself Kurtis." Lara said, walking to the door, opening it. "Now, I'd like to freshen up, time for you to leave."

A flash of disappointment was visible on his face for a really short moment, barely noticeable but Lara noticed, yet she didn't show. Kurtis nodded and stepped outside the room, but he turned around asking Lara one final question.

"What time do we leave tomorrow?"

"At seven…in the morning, the Museum opens at eight, enjoy your evening Kurtis."

Without hesitation she closed the door and Kurtis found himself staring at it for a few seconds before he realized that door wouldn't open again. He shrugged and decided to go back to his room.

* * *

Kyra was walking through the streets of Zurich. Ever since she left the airport she knew she was being followed. She hadn't seen her pursuer but she had a familiar feeling and just knew there was someone following her. This was perfect; it meant their plan was working.

She looked up, her eyes searched over the rooftops of houses and she spotted the two towers of the Grossmuenster Wasserkirche. That's where she had to go to retrieve the dagger that was used at the ritual where her brothers and sisters had given their lives to protect the existence of their race. Kyra had hidden it there and beside the scrolls it was also of upmost importance that her father wouldn't get his hands on the dagger.

But before she could retrieve it, Kyra was sure to confront her pursuer in the church. At this time of the day there wouldn't be many people in the church. Her trusted friend inside, who should already be waiting for her at the back entrance of the church would probably not appreciate the trouble she was bringing with her. He would give her the "this is the house of God" speech.

Kyra took a left turn into an alley and once she reached the end she saw the garden surrounding small building that was connected to the church. The gate shielding the garden was open. Normally it was closed but no doubt it had been opened for her.

She could already see her friend waiting in the door opening. Dressed in his usual priest suit and with his long blond hair tied together he waved at her, greeting her with a smile and a hug.

"Kyra, it's wonderful to see you again, it has been too long." He said, his German accent barely hearable.

"Father Fringz, good to see you to." She said and walked inside. The priest was about to close and lock the door, she placed her hand on his wrist and stopped him. "Don't lock it, keep it open."

"Why?"

"Someone has been following me; I need to know who it is." She replied.

He immediately shook his head. " No, no no. Kyra this is the house of God, you cannot bring any trouble in here. I'm in enough trouble as it is already for sneaking you in!"

Kyra looked at him and smiled. "Too late, he can walk in here any moment. Just hide in the next room and I promise not to kill anyone." Her words didn't make him feel any better.

"Lieber Gott, dafür werde ich wahrscheinlich direkt in der Hölle landen**. He said as he hurried himself in the next room.

Kyra chuckled at him, he always is a bit nervous with her around and she had to admit that the last few times she came here she always brought trouble with her. Kyra heard footsteps nearing and quickly positioned herself next to the door that currently was only open for a few inches.

Her left hand moved behind her back and she pulled out a gun she had been concealing there. If father Fringz had known she was carrying a gun he probably wouldn't have let her into the church. She took a deep breath as the door slowly opened towards her, but only as far for the person to walk through it.

Carefully the footsteps made their way forward, and that's when her pursuer was visible. Even though from behind, Kyra immediately recognized the man who walked inside. And the look of surprise she first got was swiftly replaced by anger. Kyra put her gun down; knowing the normal bullets inside of it wouldn't be able to kill the man in front of her.

"Always watch your back, father, isn't that what you taught me?" she quickly said before he would reach the next room and discover Father Fringz.

He turned on his heels the moment he heard her voice. Their eyes met for a few seconds, and then his went down to the gun Kyra was holding at her side.

"Don't worry, there are just normal bullets in it."

It looked as if some relief left his body as his shoulders sacked down a bit and looked less tense.

"You knew I was following you?" He asked.

Kyra shook her head in disbelief. "I'm surprised you only just figured that out." She stated.

He took a step forward to her. "Come now Kyra, do you really have to be like that…I am your father."

Kyra immediately raised the gun. "I bet it still hurts like hell if I shoot you in the head…step…back." She threatened.

It looked like he didn't feel like getting shot in the head even though Kyra only had normal bullets with her. She knew what he was trying to do; he was trying to convince her to switch sides. When she was still a child he had a lot of influence on her and she basically believed everything he told her.

But not anymore, not after what happened in Italy a few days ago. His betrayal had cut her to deep. She had killed her own brothers and sisters all for nothing and he had not only betrayed her but them as well and Kyra would be sure not to make the same mistake twice.

"Don't bother trying to win me back, father. I'm not the same girl as I was when you raised me. I've gotten smarter and learned a few things about trust and betrayal."

His façade finally fell; the attempt at a friendly and kind smile was replaced by a wicked one, his eyes tightened a bit. The change in his expression send shivers down her spine, even though she already accepted her father's betrayal, it still hurt a lot to see him like this.

"It was worth a try, a shame though I used to love how easy I could manipulate you."

"Really, father, if you came here to patronize me or to steal the scrolls from me I have to disappoint you."

Her words made him chuckle. "Oh don't worry my dear; we are well aware of your attempt to lure us into the wrong direction. In fact, I believe Joachim Karel is taking care of things in Rome as we speak."

Kyra's eyes widened, Rome, he mentioned Rome. They knew Kurtis and Lara went there and, if she were to believe her father's words, Karel is there to kill them. This panicked Kyra, but she had to stay calm, Lara and Kurtis can take care of themselves, Kyra has to focus at the current situation, she pried a small smile.

"Lara and Kurtis can take care of themselves, I'm sure they will return safely." She narrowed her eyes at him. "If you know they went to Rome then you also know I went to Zurich for nothing else but to lure you away from them."

"Oh but of course I know that, but I thought you should know that my intensions never were to try and get the scrolls of you. Why would I if I already have them in my possession."

His words surprised her, but she refused to believe him.

"That's a lie. It's impossible for you to know where I hid them."

The evil smirk he held was only growing. "I don't need those, I have my own scrolls." He said.

It looked as if his patronizing was finally paying off. Anger filled her eyes and she increased the grip around the gun.

"The scrolls can't be copied, you told me that…yourself." She realized while she said this, that it probably had been a lie. She slowly started to understand how Lara felt when she was being lied to by Kyra and Kurtis. "You son of a bitch, what else is a lie, did my brothers and sisters really have to die?"

"No, unfortunately not, that would have been even better, but no, they really did have to die."

Kyra could no longer control her anger. "You son of a bitch!" she screamed out again and pulled the trigger of her gun.

The bullet landed in his shoulder but knocked him back against the door of the room where father Fringz was hiding. As the bullet wasn't made of Ferilium metal it probably felt to him as if someone pinched him with a needle. He recovered quickly and lunged at Kyra. They rolled to the ground and started a struggle over the gun even though both of them knew it wouldn't kill them.

"All I need is the dagger and I need you to tell me where it is." He said while he grabbed her wrist and increased the pressure on it to force her into dropping the gun.

"I'd rather die." She hissed through the pain but struck back by placing her left knee fiercely in his stomach.

While she was fighting with her father, Kyra didn't realize that the gunshot had alarmed father Fringz and he came running out of the room with a shotgun. At that same time another gunshot sounded and the struggle between father and daughter ended.

Kyra grunted in pain and looked down at her stomach, where the bullet had struck. She looked back up and saw her father standing over her pointing the gun at her.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Surprised by the sudden arrival of another person, her father turned to the priest, aiming the gun at him now. But Fringz held the shotgun in front of him, preventing Kyra's father from shooting.

"Leave my church." Father Fringz demanded.

Kyra's father chuckled. "Now why would I want to do that…a simple shotgun does not scare me, priest." He said.

Father Fringz reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a bullet that belonged to the shotgun. He rested the bullet on the palm of his hand, showing the perfectly crafted piece of metal to the man. His eyes widened, recognizing the craftsmanship.

"A gift from Kyra." He said. "And there is plenty where that came from."

Kyra slowly crawled back to her feet and stepped next to the priest, grasping the wound in her stomach which was slowly fading. Her father looked up and sneered at her.

"So that's what you have hidden here, a weapon depot."

Kyra chuckled. "What can I say, you never know who to trust." She said sarcastically.

He nodded. "Very well then, I'll leave. But this is far from over, Kyra." He warned her.

"I'm counting on it…father."

He slowly backed away, still keeping the gun aimed at them until he was outside. Then he tossed the gun back to Kyra. The moment she catches the gun and looked back up there was no sign of him anymore, the Feloner let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

While she tugged the gun behind her back her eyes landed on a stressed priest. He was still looking in front of him with the shotgun aimed at the door. Smiling she gently put her hand on his shoulder and her other hand reached for the shotgun.

"Why don't you let me take that, a priest with a shotgun, what would the bishop say?"

Startled he let go of the gun and allowed Kyra to take it.

"Scheiße…"

Kyra raised an eyebrow. "Padre…you'll definitely go to hell if you keep that up." She joked.

Then, he suddenly seemed to have recovered from what just happened and turned to Kyra. He pointed an accusing finger at her; the finger was so close he almost poked her in the eye.

"Kyra…" he started but realized giving her a speech was not going to change her, nor was it the perfect moment for that. So he sighed and lowered his arm. "Didn't you tell me your father was dead and that his soul was part of the dagger you've hidden here?"

"Yes, but it appeared he betrayed me, or even worse, he used me."

He nodded. "I'm sorry to hear that, Kyra." He said.

She nodded back at him. "It's okay, father. At least we managed to convince him we have Ferilium weapons hidden in this building and that the dagger is not here."

Father Fringz shrugged. "A church as a weapon depot, outrageous."

"And yet you hold a shotgun here, does the Bishop know about this?"

A bit angry the Priest looked up to her. Kyra laughed and wrapped her arm around him. "I'm joking, Padre, I'm joking. Come, let's go get the dagger."

**_Dear God I will probably go straight to hell for this_


	9. When in Rome

**Chapter 9, When in Rome.**

"Finally in, thank God for that." Kurtis said, turning to Lara. "I knew you said it was going to be crowded, but waiting in the line for over an hour is a bit over the top, Lara."

Lara waved him away. "You'll find that it's going to be well worth the wait when we get what we came for, Kurtis."

They stopped walking when they reached an information board holding several folders. One of them held a map of the museum and Lara gladly reached for one. She unwrapped it and scanned the map. Her eyes widened when she found the area they had to go to. Before she knew it Kurtis' hand came in view and he pointed to location that held the words Charlemagne.

"There, second floor, room C."

Lara brushed his hand away. "Yes, thank you for pointing that out." She said.

The map got folded together again and Lara looked around the Museum to figure out which was the easiest way to get there was. She pointed to a staircase that looked to be made out of pure gold and lead to the second floor.

"There, let's go."

The two wormed themselves through the crowd. While walking up the staircase they bumped into people every now and then but with a crowd like this it was hard to avoid it.

"Damn, look at these stairs, Catholics and their wealth." Lara heard Kurtis say behind her. "I bet even the toilets will be made out of gold in this place."

Once upstairs Lara turned right, through the crowd she could see a sign saying A. They continued moving until Lara's eyes caught a statue of the man they were looking for. When she was only a few inches away from the statue she stopped and studied it.

"Magnificent isn't it?" she said.

"Yeah I have to admit who ever made this did a good job." Kurtis replied.

The sign with a C on it was standing right next to the statue. Kurtis nodded at it and walked inside the room across from the statue. It was quite crowded in the room. But that was the least of their problem. The room was huge and it was not easy to find what they need.

"Remember any of this from the time with your father here?" Lara asked.

Kurtis shakes his head. "Not really, I was just a kid it was all a bit boring to me back then."

"Wonderful…well let's just have a look around then."

Lara stepped through the crowd and found herself standing at a table holding several artifacts and coins from the time Charlemagne's ruling days. Above the table she found herself staring at a couple of paintings. One of them held a portrait of Charlemagne while two others were simple landscape paintings.

She looked over her shoulder and searched for Kurtis, who was staring at a throne made of gold. She shrugged and turned her attention back to the table in front of her. Lara was certain about seventy five percent of what was in this museum is made out of gold. No wonder the security is really high in here. She hoped it wouldn't be necessary to break into this place, it would be next to impossible she reckoned.

Her attention went away from the table and she saw a large group of people surrounding a small glass container. Lara could just barely make out what was in it. She walked towards it and wormed herself through the chatty people. When she was in range and sight of the glass container she felt her jaw drop. In front of her rested a beautiful _golden crown, lined with jewels, emitting a prominent indication of Charlemagne's position and wealth._

To the left of the crown rested a seal ring which, surprisingly, was made out of silver and not gold and it didn't look half as impressive as the crown. Her eyes turned to the right of the crown and landed on a ripped off piece of a map. She decided to read the description, graved in a copper plate that was manufactured at the container.

_The official crown of Charlemagne's ruling days between 768 and 814, flanked by a seal ring he always had around his finger when he went into battle and a part of a map showing Saxonia, a very important region during his reign._

"Tell me something I don't know." Lara said a bit frustrated and looked around for something else that might leave them a clue.

"Found anything yet?" she suddenly heard.

Slightly startled she looked up and saw Kurtis stepping next to her. Behind him she could hear some woman swearing at Kurtis in Italian for brushing her aside so that he could step next to Lara.

"Nothing yet." She said with a smile.

Kurtis pointed at the crown. "What's this?"

"Not much, just his crown with a ring and a part of a map." She replied.

Kurtis narrowed his eyes at the map. "Wow that looks old." He said.

Lara gave the map another quick glance. "Yes, that tends to be the case when you go to a museum." She said and looked away from the map.

But suddenly something caught her eye and the map got her full attention again.

"Bloody hell." She said.

Quickly she reached into the pocket of her jacket and pulled out a camera. She aimed it at the map and started filming, zooming in on something written in the right bottom corner of the map.

"January fourteen 1621…"

"Are you going to fill me in on what's going on?" he asked her.

He received a nod in reply and she pointed at the map. "Charlemagne ruled between 768 and 814, the date on the map shows the year 1621." She said.

"1621, that's long after his days."

"Exactly, and looking at it again I can see some numbers written on it as well. I'm quite certain this is what we are looking for, this must be what your father left behind."

Kurtis scratched the back of his head. "How on earth did he get that in there, even worse, how on earth are we going to get that out of here?"

Lara pried a smile. "We're not, God bless technology." She said waving the camera at him.

"Nice, you sure that's better than the actual map?"

"Absolutely, when I give this to Zip he can make it look even better than the one here; it's easier to point out things we might not be able to see in here."

"Great, let's get out of here then!"

Lara nodded in agreement and put the camera away. They pushed themselves through the crowd again, heading down the stairs when suddenly someone bumped into Lara. The camera dropped on the stairs. Luckily Lara noticed this and knelt down to pick it up before someone would step on it. When she stood back on her feet a Chinese looking man kindly nodded and apologized for bumping into her.

Lara kindly smiled back, and then turned around to continue following Kurtis, but to her surprise she couldn't see him anymore.

"Bugger." She said and hurried down the stairs as fast as she could.

When she was downstairs she looked up again, hoping to see a glimpse of him now. But there still was no sign of the American.

"Bloody hell Kurtis, you couldn't have gotten far."

Lara kept on moving till she reached the exit, again she looked around but there still was no sign of him. She started to worry and thought maybe someone had been following them…

"Lara…"

A hand suddenly touched her shoulder and Lara jumped up in surprise. The surprise was replaced by relief when she saw Kurtis standing in front of her.

"Bloody hell, Kurtis, where did you go off to all of a sudden."

"I could ask you the same thing, when I looked behind me you were gone. I thought about going back upstairs but then caught sight of you again."

"Yes, sorry about that. Someone bumped into me and the camera fell on the floor." She replied.

"Is it still in one piece?"

Lara nodded. "It's fine, let's just get out of here."

Kurtis nodded in agreement and they hurried themselves out of the Museum. They took a taxi back to the Hotel and decided to go into Lara's room to have a look at the map. Lara leaned back against the table in the middle of the room, Kurtis stood next to her. They studied the film Lara made of the map and Lara paused the bit where she zoomed in. She leaned forward and pointed at a few numbers that were vaguely visible.

"Those look like coordinates." She said.

Kurtis narrowed his eyes. "They do, but to where?" he wondered.

"I have no clue, I should send the file to Zip, I'm certain he can figure this out with the help of his computers."

"Send it to him?" Kurtis said. "Can't we just wait till we get back at your house tomorrow?"

Lara gave him a confused look. "What? No, of course not. If I send it to him now he will probably have figured out where these coordinates lead to by the time we get back in England."

Kurtis grabbed the camera and closed it. He put it on the table and tried to pry a friendly smile when Lara gave him an annoyed look for this.

"What's the rush all of the sudden, Lara. We have to wait for Kyra to get back anyways."

Lara brushed him aside and grabbed the camera from the table.

"Bloody hell what is wrong with you Kurtis, I thought you wanted to bring down Karel, the longer we wait the worse our chances are getting."

She walked around the table to get her laptop but Kurtis stopped her and grabbed her wrist.

"Of course I do, but…" he started but got lost for words.

"But what." Lara bit back pulling her wrist free from his grip.

Suddenly, before Lara could even see it coming Kurtis leaned forwards and kissed her. Surprise struck her for a moment and she held the kiss for a few seconds before she realized what was happening. She jerked back immediately, her eyes seething with rage.

"What on earth do you think you're doing?" She said angrily.

He smirked. "Come on now Lara, don't tell me you're not interested. I've seen the looks you've been giving me today." He said.

He leaned forward again for another kiss, but Lara wouldn't let him this time and slapped him fiercely on the cheek.

"Kurtis, I think it's time for you to leave now." She said.

To make her point she folded her arms, her eyes showing anger and coldness. What surprised her was that he gave the same, maybe even darker look.

"I think not." He said, the tone in his voice suddenly changing.

His hand balled into a fist and moved forward, Lara could not react. Pain exploded in her stomach, the force claimed a cry of pain from the tomb raider and she doubled over. Kurtis knew no mercy, he grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her head back, easily brushing away the hands attempting to try and remove the painful grip on her hair. She sneered at him as he forced her to look at him.

"Karel..." she said through gritted teeth.

Realization had struck her. The real Kurtis wouldn't do something like that. She cursed at herself; she should have noticed this sooner. The features on his face slowly started changing; he was turning back in his actual human form.

"The one and only…" he said with an evil grin from ear to ear.

"Bastard, what did you do to Kurtis?"

She struggled to get free from his grip again. This time he easily grabbed both her wrists with one hand and forced her hands down.

"Now, now Miss Croft, why the temper. Did our passionate kiss mean nothing at all to you?"

Lara suddenly felt a wave of disgust going over her body at the realization that she shared a kiss with this abomination. She felt like beating the hell out of him, Karel's hold on her was too strong though.

"I'm sure you'll get over it." She said in attempt to try and stay calm. "Where is Kurtis?" She demanded to know again.

He leaned closer to her. "Oh I'm sure I will. And don't you worry about Kurtis, I'm confident Gunderson and his men assured him a reunion with his father."

"I refuse to believe that."

"Of course you do, he probably said the same thing when Gunderson informed him about your demise, which will not be far away. I must say though, the man must have some strong feelings for you."

"We're not a couple." Lara immediately answered.

This made Karel shrug. "No of course you're not. You made that clear a few minutes earlier didn't you."

"I should have hit you a lot harder."

Karel increased the grip on her hair, she hissed.

"Do you enjoy pain, Miss Croft? Because I have no problem in making the last few minutes of your life extremely painful."

Lara sneered at him. "No, but I am not planning on dying either." She said and made her move.

She slammed her knee up and from the scream this forced out of Karel Lara was sure that even though he was not human, he was still a man and it hurt like hell to get hit there. He was forced to let go of her and Lara immediately moved to kick him again. She never hit her target.

He caught her foot in midair and pulled at it as hard as he could. Lara was slammed down and with a sickening thud she connected with the floor of her hotel room. Her head rang; darkness engulfed her for several seconds. But reality shot back to her once Karel grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up in the air.

"Very, very foolish…Lara." He said.

Without effort he threw her backwards, Lara was sailing though the air and she slammed painfully into the balcony door. The glass broke and her crash ended outside, on the balcony. A piece of glass got stuck in her left arm.

"Bloody hell." She grimaced in pain, reaching for the glass to pull it out of her arm.

Karel did not give her time for that, Lara found herself in his grip once again. He lifted her up to her knees, his strong hand locked around her jaw and forced her head back to face him. But it did not escape her attention that his other hand was holding the camera. Lara could not allow him to destroy it. She had to think of a way to get it back.

"From which moment did you pretend to be Kurtis?" she asked as Karel lowered the pressure on her jaw, allowing her to talk.

Karel chuckled. "From the moment you bumped into me in the museum." He answered.

Lara's eyes widened. "That was you…I should have known."

"Yes, but you didn't, fortunately for me. With you distracted, Gunderson easily managed to snatch Mister Trent and escort him out of the building while I took over his role."

To her own relief he let go of her jaw and lifted the camera up in the air. Lara rubbed her jaw in an attempt to ease the pain; her eyes remained on the camera.

"So, next to the immense problem you've become I have this camera and the map at the museum." He started. "Let's first take care of the camera."

He moved to throw it over the balcony; Lara jumped up and grabbed his arm knowing that this probably was a bad idea. She didn't care; she had to prevent him from destroying the camera.

"Don't you ever learn!" he yelled, grabbing her wrist.

He twisted it, a popping sound followed, pain exploded in her wrist, and moved down her entire arm and hand. Not only did it force a cry of pain from the tomb raider, she also had no choice but to let go of his arm, collapsing back to her knees.

"Enough of this."

The hand holding the camera reared backwards and was ready to hit her. Then, gunshots suddenly echoed through the hotel room. Lara, who was shielding herself from the merciless attack she was about to receive, looked up and saw Karel staggering backwards, dropping the camera at her feet. He fell to his knees, his body was filled with bullet holes, at least ten, if not more. She was staring at him for a moment, witnessing the blood pouring from his body. Then she realized that these injuries are more than enough to kill a human being, but not him. However, it was an opportunity to escape, one she had to take instantly.

Her arm throbbed with every heartbeat, it felt as if her heart was stuck in her throat and her arm was about to fall off. She did her best to ignore the piece of glass in her arm and the broken wrist. Her good hand snatched the camera and she pushed herself back on her feet. Lara turned to face whoever had shot Karel; surprise struck her as she faced the shooter.

"Kurtis…I…he…" she started, still a bit disorientated.

He shakes his head. "Not now Lara, let's get the hell out of here before he gets back up."

She nodded and realized he wasn't in perfect condition either. His lower lip was bleeding, his jaw was bruised and his right eye looked swollen as well. He didn't seem to be bothered by it, grabbed her hand and together they ran out of the hotel room.


	10. Trapped

**Chapter 10, Trapped.**

"Kurtis…stop." Lara begged him when he turned into an alley.

They had been running for five minutes now and reached a less wealthy area of Rome. The blood loss Lara had suffered from the glass in her arm was starting to take its toll. She leaned against the wall behind her and took a few deep breaths, closing her eyes, she heard Kurtis pacing towards her.

"I'm sorry Lara, we should have stopped sooner." He said.

She shakes her head; there was no need for Kurtis to feel guilty about this.

"No, don't worry Kurtis. We have to keep moving, but I need to get this glass out of my arm, could you just yank it out really fast please."

He looked at her startled. "Are you sure, it will only increase the bleeding."

Lara knelt down and pulled something from her boot. A small knife came in sight and she took off her jacket. She used the knife to cut some fabric from her jacket and then tossed what remained on the ground, handing the fabric to Kurtis.

"Here, now pull the glass out and use the fabric to tie around the wound…tightly."

He nodded at her, placing his hand on her shoulder. Carefully he wrapped his other hand around the piece of glass. He swallowed deeply, eyes locked on Lara. Lara looked back, and then he yanked the glass out, immediately forcing a cry of pain from the tomb raider. Blood poured down her arm. Kurtis wiped some of it away with the fabric and wrapped it around her arm.

"Right, this is going to hurt again, Lara." He said.

She nodded, and he immediately pulled at the fabric, tying it firmly around her arm. The increasing pain in her arm made Lara grind her teeth together, but she did not give into the pain, she refused to. With deep short breaths she recovered from the pain, her head bent down, and eyes staring at the cold wet ground of the alley.

She caught something moving in the corner of her eye. Her head jerked up, eyes meeting a person standing at the other side of the alley. Lara felt her eyes widen, it was Gunderson. How had he managed to find them that quick? She cursed inwardly, her entire body protested against movement, she was exhausted but if they would want to get out of this alive they had to start running again.

"Kurtis, run!" she said and jerked away from the wall.

Kurtis looked over his shoulder and saw Gunderson stood at the other side of the alley, holding a gun at them. A gunshot sounded and Kurtis instinctively dove for cover, the bullet missed him by a few inches. He scrambled back on his feet and ran after Lara to see her turn right just in time. Another gunshot sounded as he turned around the corner, the bullet missing him once again.

The streets they ran through were not too crowded, but there were people around. While it's hard not to draw any attention to you when you're running, the fact that they were being shot at might put innocent people in danger and they didn't want that on their conscience. They crossed the street and turned into another alley, a quick peek over her shoulder told Lara that Gunderson was close behind.

"He's getting closer." Lara yelled at Kurtis.

"I know, take a left at the end of the alley."

Lara nodded and did as Kurtis suggested. She cursed as they reached another open street. Almost bumping into someone she quickly jumped aside. Lara was exhausted and wished they could take another moment to rest again. She had no idea how she managed to keep this going, they had to shake off Gunderson fast.

Lara looked around for a good place to continue their escape. Her eyes caught sight of something that looked like an abandoned factory. There was a road next to it that lead to the back of the factory. Lara poked Kurtis and pointed at the factory, he offered her a nod, showing he understood her intensions. They sped across the street, glass of a car mirror next to Kurtis broke in pieces, and Kurtis stumbled a bit, shielding his face from the glass. That was another bullet that missed him, Gunderson was a lousy shot.

Kurtis was glad to have reached the road next to the factory; he just prayed that it wouldn't lead them to a dead end. That would really mean trouble. He hated the fact that he hadn't brought his Chirugai and he had used the last few bullets of the gun he had taken from Gunderson on Karel. The knife Lara had with her wouldn't help them either, even though it was going to be two against one, Gunderson was the one with the gun, sadly. Kurtis risked another peek over his shoulder while they reached the back area of factory. Gunderson had already reached the front of the factory, this was not good.

Wham.

Kurtis suddenly bumped into Lara, he hadn't noticed she stopped walking while he had been looking over his shoulder at Gunderson. The Lux Veritartis looked in front of him to see why Lara suddenly had stopped running. He saw a way out for them to run through, but that way out was blocked by three of Gunderson's men.

"Bugger." Lara said frustrated.

Turning around they found Gunderson standing in the way, his gun aimed at them, mirroring the actions of his men. There was no way out for them, they were trapped and Gunderson was the one holding the gun.

"Shit." Kurtis said, sharing his frustration with Lara.

Gunderson pulled a wicked smiled. "Oh, how unfortunate, you two seem to be trapped." He said.

A nod went out to the three men behind them. One of the men walked to Kurtis, he was told to put his hands up in the air and step away from Lara. Gunderson started searching the American for weapons; he will find an unloaded gun. His thoughts were interrupted by a small yelp of pain from Lara. When Kurtis looked up to her he saw the two other men had grabbed her arms, each on one side. However, one of them held a grip around her broken wrist, which must be really painful. Lara's moment of pain had not gone unnoticed by Gunderson either; he chuckled and stepped away from Kurtis, advancing towards Lara. Through the wrapped fingers of the goon it was clearly visible her wrist was swollen and bruised.

"Heh, looks like you got yourself hurt…Croft."

"Thank your pointy eared boss for that." Lara sneered back at him.

As a warning, Gunderson pointed his gun at her head.

"Watch it, Croft." He said. "The camera, where is it?"

Lara sighed, there was no use in concealing it from him unless she wanted to be in more pain then she already was.

"Right front pocket." She said, reluctantly.

He reached inside the pocket and removed the camera. Gunderson surprised them when instead of destroying the camera, like Karel tried to do, he placed it in the inside pocket of his jacket.

"You're not going to destroy it?" Kurtis wondered.

Gunderson looked at him, the corners of his mouth moved up. "No, Master Karel changed his mind; he wants to find the weapon."

Lara's eyes widened as she realized the reason behind this. "He wants to be sure the weapon is destroyed so he doesn't risk problems in the future." Lara said, understanding the decision of the Nephilim, but not liking it.

"And as Master Karel is in need of your expertise, you are lucky to live long enough to see it happen." Gunderson said, turning to Kurtis. "You unfortunately, won't."

Kurtis swallowed deeply. "Great, I should have chosen a different profession." He muttered to himself.

"Wait!" Lara yelled.

Why, she had no idea. But she knew she had to stall time. Lara couldn't just let Gunderson kill Kurtis. Perhaps they could think of a way to escape. Though with four armed men it was not going to be easy.

"You will need Kurtis too; he's the last of the Lux Veritartis."

Gunderson turned to her. "I see that more as a reason to kill him, not let him live." He stated.

"Well it is a Lux Veritartis weapon we are looking for, isn't it?"

Gunderson shrugged, he took a few paces closer to Lara and moved his gun under her chin, slightly tilting her head upwards. His eyes narrowed, he studied her closely.

"Are you sure you are not just trying to buy some time in an attempt to form another one of your idiot escape plans…hmm, Lara?"

"Now why would I do that, you are the boys with the guns."

He kept looking at her to try and find out if she was bluffing. It seemed he had made his choice while he removed the gun from her chin, but moving his head forward, inches from hers.

"I'll take my chances with just you, sorry sweets." He said with a really evil smile

He turned to Kurtis and raised his gun.

"No!"

Lara cried out, but found there was nothing she could do to stop him. She felt tears watering in her eyes as the gunshot sounded.


	11. Resurrection

**Chapter 11, Resurrection.**

Following events felt like they happened in slow motion. Lara looked in shock when it wasn't Kurtis but Gunderson who dropped down on his knees, clutching a bloody exit wound at his stomach. From behind him appeared a woman, gun aimed at Lara. At least that's what it looked like to her, but as the gun fired another two rounds, Lara felt the hands around her arms disconnect. The two men next to her dropped lifeless to the floor, the bullets killed them instantly.

Lara looked up, eyes landing at the woman in front of her, tugging the gun away, Lara finally realized who it was that had come to their rescue.

"Kyra." She muttered, still not entirely grasping the situation.

Kurtis, while surprised to see Kyra, had a better reaction to her arrival and when he'd seen Gunderson was shot down he took out the man that was holding him.

"You guys alright?" she asked, pointing at Lara's arm.

"Karel broke my wrist, but I'll live." She said, cradling her arm. "Not that I'm not grateful, but how on earth did you get here?"

"That's a really long story." Kyra replied, pointing at the headset on her head. "In short, I ran into my father in Zurich, he told me Karel was in Rome to kill you. So after I managed to get my father off my tail I called Zip and he helped me to track the two of you down."

"I guess I owe you one then." Kurtis said.

Kyra offered him an accusing finger. "Damn right you owe me one, Trent." She said, but held a smile.

"So what happened in Zurich then?" Lara wondered.

Kyra looked at her startled; it showed it was a subject she didn't want to talk about. Lara knew that look, whatever happened between Kyra and her father, it had a lot of impact on her. Kyra reached inside her jacket pocket and removed a beautiful looking knife from it. She rested the knife on the palm of her hand, giving Lara and Kurtis a good view on the weapon.

The blade of the knife was perfect, solid. The handle was black, and when the sun reflected off the blade she could see symbols engraved in the blade. Lara didn't understand what they meant, they must be written in Ferilium.

"This is the blade I used on the day I fulfilled my role as the Feloner, the only one to live on and protect the Ferilium secrets."

"It looks beautiful." Kurtis said, peering at it over Lara's shoulder.

"It holds the souls of my brothers and sisters, and supposedly my father too. But we established a while ago that was a lie, and turned out not to be the only one."

"What did you find out?" Lara asked.

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of sirens. Gunshots never go unnoticed; they should have thought of that a bit sooner.

"We should go before the cops find us with a bunch of lifeless bodies." Kurtis said.

"I agree, the plane Zip arranged for me to get here is on a small airport just outside of town, let's go."

Kyra ran towards the exit that had been blocked by three men a few moments ago. Kurtis and Lara gladly followed; it was time to get out of Rome.

* * *

Eva Bartolli was leaning back against the factory wall. Siren lights were reflecting off the crime scene, which had been secured by the well known 'police line do not cross'. She was watching the handsome detective who was closing up his investigation. He'd said he would signal her when the last body was ready to be transported to the morgue. If it was up to her, it would take extra time for him to finish, the detective definitely was a sight for sore eyes.

But, as if he had felt her watching him, he looked up to her and gave her a nod. Eva did her best to hide the disappointment on her face. She turned around the corner and waved at Mario, her colleague. He was leaned back against the black van holding white letters that spelt the word; Coroner. At her signal he stepped away when she told him to get the Gurney. Eva wondered what was wrong with him, usually he would always be at her side talking her ears off, but today he's been quiet and tried to avoid contact with just about everyone.

She will be sure to ask him once they are driving back to the morgue. Mario reached her side with the Gurney, Eva smiled at him. He placed the Gurney next to the dead body and together they lifted him on it.

"Damn, this sucker is heavy." She said.

Eva was startled when Mario gave her a look which showed he wasn't happy with how she treated this dead man. Something really was wrong with him, on any other day he would laugh about this. She turned to the detective, giving him a kind smile and thanks before they moved the Gurney to the van and pushed it inside. Eva blinked when she saw a green flash of light going over the dead man's body. Startled she jumped up, did she just see that correctly, or was her mind playing tricks with her.

"Did you see that?" she asked her colleague.

Mario frowned at her and shakes his head; he had no idea what she was talking about. Eva shrugged; she probably was just seeing things. It was getting late and she was tired. While she closed the door, Mario, as silently as he had been all evening, stepped behind the wheel. Eva took a seat next to him and a second later the van started moving away from the crime scene.

Eva was staring through the window next to her and watched how the street lights reflected of it. A few minutes of silence passed while they drove to the morgue, this really made Eva feel uncomfortable. What was wrong with him, why was he so quiet? Maybe he was angry at her, but she couldn't think about a situation where she had been rude to him. Eva knew there was only one way to find out, confront him.

"Are you alright, Mario?" She asked him.

He looked at her for a few seconds, but had to turn his eyes back to the road eventually. Eva expected him to say something, but he remained silent. This increased her worries, placing her hand on his leg.

"Mario, what's wrong with you, is there something you need to tell me?"

He sighed, taking a left turn. The van moved up on a parking lot and stopped. He looked at her, worried.

"I guess there is something I would want to tell you, yes." He finally said.

Eva showed a hesitant smile. "Please do, because you are starting to freak me out." She said.

He put his hand on hers, his fingertips resting on the perfect smooth skin of her hand and leaned a bit forward.

"It's like this. I know this woman. She looks a lot like you, long brown hair, beautiful. But her eyes are brown, not blue, like yours." He started.

Eva smiled. "You met a woman? That's great Mario." She said exciting.

She was startled when his eyes expressed sadness.

"No, no it's not great, she's been a problem to me since the moment I met her."

Confused by his words, Eva decided to continue the conversation.

"What do you mean?" she wondered.

The grip of his hands increased a bit but it did not startle her until the impression on his face went from sadness to anger.

"Like the other day, I came to visit her. We got into a fight, she just wouldn't listen to me…and… forced me to hurt her really badly."

Shocked by what he said, she quickly pulled her hands away from him. She really didn't feel like being in the same vehicle as Mario anymore. Especially when he leaned closer to her again, his eyes were dark. He did not allow her to back away, his hands clamped around her arms again, fingers digging tightly into her skin.

"Please Mario, let go of me, I have to get out."

She tried to pull free from his grip; Mario wouldn't let her and pulled her closer to him. Eva realized that struggling only increased the pain and stopped. She had no choice but to look in to those dark eyes she didn't recognize from her friend.

Mario chuckled. "I'm afraid I cannot allow that to happen." He said.

Tears fell down her cheek, who was this man? It couldn't possibly be Mario, could it? The Mario she knew would never do something like this.

"Who are you, what do you want with me?" she asked scared.

Mario pulled up an evil smile. Moving one hand to her throat, forcing her head back. He studied her, looking up and down her body. It looked like he was appreciating his view.

"What do I want from you?" He said, searching for her scared, confused eyes. "Not much, my dear. You are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Eva stood no chance against his strength. As Mario spoke his words he twisted her neck in one swift move, breaking it instantly. He pushed her back in her seat and pulled his hand away. Her lifeless body sacked down the chair until she connected with the closed door next to her. Mario chuckled and straightened his coat. He turned around, knocking three times at the glass cover behind him.

"Gunderson, would you be so kind to switch places with the poor woman next to me."

A sound was coming from the back of the van; Mario looked back in front of him. His eyes turned to the inside mirror, which no longer reflected short dark hair and a mustache, but blond combed back hair with a cleanly shaven beard. The door to the passenger's seat opened and Eva's body slumped out of the van, on the cold ground of the parking lot. Gunderson dragged her to the side, not treating her with the slightest bit of sympathy.

"Gunderson, please make a personal note of this. This is the last time you failed me, the next time I will leave you dead, understood?"

Gunderson clearly wasn't happy with the way he was treated, but he knew he was also lucky to be alive again. So he nodded, but looked away.

"Understood, Master Karel."

* * *

"So basically you have been living a lie ever since the ceremony?"

The three friends were in a Military transport plane flying over Italy. Kyra had just told them about her experiences in Zurich. The meeting with her father and how he told her that almost her entire life was based on a lie, only so that he could get the riches and powers of the Ferilium all for himself. It was not easy to accept that, something clearly expressed on her face.

"Yes Kurtis, thanks again for reminding me." Kyra said.

Kurtis flinched, realizing he should have said that a lot more subtle.

" Sorry, didn't mean to sound like that."

Kyra smiled. "That's ok, Kurtis. I think I've gotten over most of the disappointment."

Her eyes turned to Lara, who was leaned back in her seat with her eyes closed. Her left hand was cradled carefully by her right hand. It was shaking terribly and the bruising was getting worse. It was more than likely everyone in the plane knew she needed to get that wrist looked at, but going to a hospital was not an option at this moment.

Kyra felt sorry for her, the pain must be killing her. By judging the bruises and the position her wrist was in it looked like a complicated break. Kyra walked over to the tomb raider, the small ray of sunshine that covered Lara's face was blocked when she stepped next to her. Lara's eyes opened and aimed a smile at Kyra.

"You are blocking my sun." she said jokingly. "I was hoping to get a nice tan."

Kyra raised an eyebrow. "A single tanned line on your head, you're kidding right, thank me instead." She said.

Kyra scuffed past the tomb raider and took a seat next to her. She pointed at Lara's wrist, giving her a worried look.

"That wrist of yours isn't looking good; I spend a lot of time improvising when it came to injuries in the battlefield, especially during my first few years on my own. Mind if I take a look, it could ease the pain a bit."

Lara nodded at her and held out her hand. Kyra took it and carefully studied her wrist. Lara flinched a few times when Kyra pressed at certain points. It was only normal; a break like that, the slightest movement must hurt. And Kyra spotted a certain area at her wrist which looked the worst. The bone was turned in a painful angle, pushing painfully in to her skin.

"Damn, Karel definitely knows no boundaries." Kyra said.

Kurtis stood behind her, looking down at Lara's wrist.

"No kidding, that's even nastier then before." He stated.

"Yes, thank you Kurtis, you're not really good at this, are you?" Lara said, referring to his previous comment about Kyra's life.

"Sorry." He said with a chuckle. "So, any news from Zip yet?"

"Kurtis, I sent the information about fifteen minutes ago, give him a bit more time."

"Oh, I thought he said he was good." Kurtis joked.

Kyra had to shrug at his words. "Good at being annoying, the moment I put that headset on, he never stopped talking, how you manage to stay calm with this guy talking in your ear is a mystery to me, Lara." She said.

"You get used to him, besides, if it reaches a point where he starts to annoy me, I just turn the headset off…which usually leads to annoyance from his part…ouch!"

While they were talking, Kyra continued investigating Lara's wrist. Whatever she did, it hurt even more when Karel broke it, Lara's eyes watered from the pain it caused.

"What exactly are you trying to do, kill me?"

Kyra just pulled up a smile, folding her arms. "Honestly, instead of giving me an angry look, try and notice how I just lessened the pain on your wrist." She said.

Lara glanced down at her arm; she moved her fingers a bit. Her eyes widened when she realized Kyra's words were not a lie. The pain and annoying throbbing feeling were gone and it even looked like the bone was no longer aimed in a painful angle and almost looked to be in place.

"Bloody Hell…what did you do, I don't feel anything anymore."

"Well I repositioned the bone, which was the short moment of pain you felt. And with the correct touch you can go without most of the pain for a good two or three days. After that I suggest you start using painkillers, because it's going to get a bit nasty. But I figured with the current problems we have, this would be a nice alternative."

"Thanks, but a warning up front would have been nice." Lara stated, still studying her hand in amazement.

Kyra shakes her head. "No actually, knowing it was coming would have made it a lot more painful. Trust me on that." She explained the tomb raider.

"Shouldn't we go to a hospital and put it in a cast?"

His question was answered by a short moment of silence and resulted in two pair of eyes staring at him, wondering why he asked that question.

"Going to a hospital, with Karel on our heels? That's not really an option now, is it?" Lara asked, rhetorically.

"I know that, but what about your wrist, Kyra might have straightened the bone, but will it still heal correctly."

Kyra gave him a nudge in the side. "Thanks for the confidence, Kurtis. You think they had cases in my early days. For example the time Napoleon shortened his enemies," she paused, laughing a bit at her own pun, but realized the others refused to join her in her humorous moment.

"Or when the Romans conquered nations? People broke bones back then too you know, and I'm sure most of them turned out fine." She said.

"When the Romans conquered nations, exactly how old are you Kyra?" Lara wondered.

"Oh I'm not that old, more like around four hundred years, give or take a few decades. Anyway I just wanted to give another example, if we put a bandage around that wrist it will heal just fine, trust me on that."

Lara offered her a nod. "Alright, I think there is a first aid kit in the cockpit with Shugrave."

"Great, I'll go get it." She said.

Kyra stood from her seat, advancing towards the cockpit. Lara and Kurtis watched her as she dodged a few boxes labeled with the words; Classified. It made Lara smile. How often had Lara seen those boxes during the countless of favors he had already done for her. Shugrave uses this plane to transport military supplies to American soldiers all over the world. To him it was almost never a problem to make a detour in case Lara was in need of his help.

Didn't mean it was legal what he did. If the Air Force would find out he would be court-martialed. But, to quote Shugrave; he never gets caught. Lara would only hope so because Shugrave was not only a good friend from her old SAS days, he'd helped her out of trouble more then she can remember. An annoying beeping sound in her right ear suddenly disturbed her thoughts and it took Lara a moment to realize where it came from. Her hand moved up to the headset on her head, pressing the small button on top of it.

"Zip, tell me some good news." Lara said, while she saw Kyra returning with a bandage in her hands.

"Well I have good and bad news." The voice sounded from the other side of the headset.

Kyra walked passed her, taking a seat next to Lara again. A nod went out to the tomb raider, Lara held her hand up, so Kyra could start bandaging it.

"The good news first please." Lara answered Zip.

"Alright, the good news is that I located the coordinates, I've sent them to your PDA."

Lara smiled. "Thanks Zip, what's the bad news then." She said, flinching a bit when Kyra wrapped the bandage quite tightly around her wrist. A glance towards Kyra resulted in a shrug. The bandage had to be tight; Lara knew that as well, complaining was useless.

"The bad news is that this was really easy to find out, any idiot could figure it out. Basically you didn't even have to send it to me."

Lara frowned. "Are you implying we are idiots, Zip?" she said, forming a smile on her face.

"I wouldn't dare to call someone who knows the history of just about every Ancient nation off the top of her head an idiot." He responded. And though Lara couldn't see it, he probably held a smile too.

"Good, I wouldn't want to cut down on your salary." She joked. "But thanks for the information, Zip. We'll be in touch."

"Yeah, see ya Lara." She heard him say before she closed the connection.

"So, any possible way to combine the good and the bad news in one line?" Kurtis asked, still leaning against the side of Lara's seat.

Looking up to him she answered his question.

"Zip found out where the coordinates lead to, but it was really easy to figure this out so chances are that Karel is already on his way to it as well." Lara said, while pulling out her PDA.

The small envelope on the top left of the screen showed that she had already received Zip's message.

"So where are we going?" Kyra asked.

Lara clicked on the envelope to view the message, she smiled and looked up.

"Turkey, a town called Efeze in the province Izmir."

_I hope you are all keeping track of the story, feedback would be great! :)_


	12. Let's go to church

**Chapter 12, Let's go to Church.**

"I've always wanted to come here some day, it's beautiful." Lara said.

It was dark, the area had been closed down to the public, luckily all three of them had experience in trespassing and it was no problem to find a way in unnoticed. They were standing on the square of house of Virgin Mary. The shrine was said to be her home for the last few years of her life, taken there by St John. It's a really popular site and attracts both Christian and Muslim pilgrims because the Virgin Mary is mentioned in the Quran as well.

Lara looked past the big tree in the center of the square; her eyes studied the chapel in the back. During the day it would attract hundreds of people. She could understand why, but knew that they had no time for personal sightseeing at the moment. Karel would most definitely be at their heels, there was no time to waste.

"I never knew you were the Christian type, Lara." Kurtis said.

Lara pulled her eyes away from the chapel, facing the American.

"My interest is purely historical Kurtis, I have faith in no one but myself."

"Well I'll keep that in mind. Is that the chapel Zip was talking about?" he asked her, pointing at the one ahead of them.

Lara shakes her head. "No not this one, the one Zip mentioned should be just outside the square."

Kyra stepped next to them. "Well, let's go then, before Karel and my father throw us a little surprise party." She said, advancing to the tree line.

The others followed her; it didn't take long until they looked up to a chapel that actually looked ready to collapse. The reason for this no doubt was the age of the chapel, it looked to have been standing here for a few hundred years. But bad weather conditions probably helped decreasing the state of the chapel too. No wonder it had been locked down for public view.

There were several holes in the wooden roof. On top of the roof was a short tower with a small copper bell in it. The bell looked rusty and probably no longer worked anymore. On top the tower was a cross, the cross too was way past its golden days and one side of it was even broken down.

The door to the entrance was lying on the muddy ground in front of the chapel. They walked over it and stepped into the chapel. There were options to go either left or right, but the choice didn't matter, both paths ended up in the main area of the chapel only Lara and Kyra entered it from the left, Kurtis from the right.

The wooden benches on the left and the right once again proved the bad shape of the chapel. On both sides they had collapsed, some pieces had been broken off and were spread around the isle that kept the left and the right side of the benches separated. The altar at the back, made out of gold and decorated with different colored jewels, looked, compared with the rest of the chapel, to be in a lot better shape. It almost looked to be out of place. Lara thought it was rather suspicious and made her way to the altar.

On her way to it she spotted a small door and the far left of the chapel, she would inspect what's behind that door later, Lara had a gut feeling there was something about that altar. She walked up the three steps that lead to the altar; they squeaked a bit but did not seem to give in under her weight. A quick peek over her shoulder told the tomb raider that Kurtis and Kyra were close behind her, they probably had the same idea about the altar.

"That looks to be a bit out of place, doesn't it?" Kurtis said.

"It does." Lara replied, walking around it.

"Yeah, it's hard to believe this altar has been here as long as the chapel has been standing." Kyra said, moving her finger over the top, a little bit of dust remained on her finger. "Long enough for it to become a bit dusty."

Lara nodded at Kyra, but stopped her inspection of the altar and kneeled down. She moved her hand over a small button at the side of the altar, barely noticeable. Her eyes narrowed while her fingers pressed down on it. She jerked back a bit when a small drawer came sliding out of the altar, she took a peek into it, noticing Kyra and Kurtis leaning over her to get a glimpse of what was inside too. The result was disappointing, there was nothing much in it but an empty chalice.

Lara still decided to remove it from the drawer, hoping there might be something special about it. But after studying it closely she couldn't find anything that would lead them to a weapon of any kind.

"Nothing?" Kurtis asked.

Lara shakes her head, handing the chalice to Kurtis. "Perhaps as a Lux Veritartis you can find something." She said.

Kurtis took the chalice but Lara could see from the way he looked at it he had no clue either and with Kyra raising her shoulders it was obvious this was just a chalice. She took it back from Kurtis and placed it in the drawer, closing it down again.

"Maybe we are looking in the wrong place?"

Lara looked at the door she spotted earlier, Kurtis had a good point. Maybe they should have a look at what was behind that door.

"Let's have a look in there."

She walked to the door with Kyra and Kurtis close behind her and opened it. Her eyes landed on a staircase leading down in circles, she couldn't even see where it ended. Lara reached into her backpack, removing a flashlight. The device was lit and step by step they walked down the squeaking staircase.

* * *

A helicopter landed not far from the square the three friends just had been at. The propellers of the helicopter kept spinning while people stepped out of it. Six armed men, dressed in black military uniforms jumped out. All of them carrying AK-47 guns and held handguns at their sides. The six men were followed by three other men, Gunderson, Karel and Kyra's father. Once they were on a safe distance the helicopter rose into the air again and flew off into the distance.

Karel straightened his coat and looked around the area. The six men that had joined them, personally picked by Gunderson and promised to be of value, walked down the square and started scanning the area. He didn't really have a lot of faith in these men, simply because they were human, like Gunderson. And he too had already proved a few times to not be able to live up to Karel's expectations.

Still, he also had proved to be of value a few times, and he was still useful to Karel, so he saw no reason yet to relieve him from his duties. And then there was Archold, the father of that damned Ferilium girl. They had agreed to cooperate because Karel needed Kurtis and Lara dead and have the last object linked to his destruction destroyed. On his turn, Archold wanted the dagger his daughter held in order to have full control over the Ferilium powers again.

Karel did not trust him for one bit and depending on the course of actions today, he might actually have a displeasing surprise for this cigar smoking man. The Nephilim coughed once and moved his hand through the air to get rid of the cigar smoke that had developed. Archold stepped next to him, but Karel ignored him and watched the six men who had returned from the square. One of them walked up to Gunderson and after a short conversation Gunderson turned to Karel.

"Master Karel, the square is empty but the chapel marked on the map holds clues of three different footprints."

Karel nodded. "That means they have arrived before us. Nothing to worry about; let's proceed to the chapel, quietly. I don't want them to know we are coming." He stated.

Gunderson nodded and turned to his men, he made some movements with his hands and even through Karel had no idea what he meant with it, the six men understood perfectly and moved out in pairs of two.

"Don't forget our little deal, Karel. I get the dagger and kill Kyra to finalize the ritual."

Karel turned to him, but regretted this immediately when Archold blew some cigar smoke into his face. The Nephilim waved the smoke away and peered at him angrily.

"Keep doing that, Mister Archold. I might change my mind." He threatened.

Archold chuckled; he tossed the cigar on the ground and stood on it, killing the smoking front instantly.

"Don't try and patronize me, Joachim. I'm not like your little soldier puppet Gunderson."

He avoided eye contact with Karel and followed the men towards the chapel. Karel watched him closely. The arrogance from this man, thinking he's better than him. Karel would be sure to put him on his place once the time comes. He hated working together with other people, he much preferred to have people working for him, not with him. He shrugged away his thoughts. This man wasn't his main concern at the moment. It was Lara and that Lux Veritartis, located in the chapel. Karel would be sure that this time he would get rid of them once and for all.

* * *

The three friends embarked into a small room that connected instantly with the staircase. There was no light in the room, only Lara's flashlight offered some sort of visibility. The tomb raider reached into her backpack and removed another flashlight, handing it to Kurtis. There was a small wooden desk in front of them, surrounded by two cupboards looking ready to collapse.

Spider webs covered the top of the desk and cupboards and the same faith had fallen over an actual decent looking painting at the wall across from the desk. Lara aimed her flashlight at the paining. It held a painted version of Virgin Holy Mary; she walked closer to the painting and studied it closely. Behind her Kyra and Kurtis were inspecting the desk and cupboards. Lara paid no further attention to it and focused on the painting, there was something a bit off about it, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it yet.

The painting was hanging slightly to the left, Lara moved the light to the right side of the paining and discovered a small juncture. She frowned, was it really this easy. Her hand moved away the sticky webs and she pulled the paining away from the wall. The juncture had now formed into a small square sized compartment with on the left side a small handle to open it. Lara didn't hesitate and opened it instantly, the result was somewhat disappointing.

"Guys, come have a look at this." She said, her eye not moving away from the compartment.

They stepped behind her and had a look at what was preventing them to have a look inside the compartment. Lara tilted her head a bit to the left, she was looking upon a lock that she had not seen before. There were four small openings, each a different shape. Lara moved her fingers over the figures, then looked back and moved her flashlight in the room. But Kyra stepped forwards pointing at the figures.

"Wait a second, these look familiar." She said.

Lara pointed the light back at the figures, not a split second later she realized Kyra was right, and she immediately knew where they'd seen these figures before.

"The chalice in the altar, it held the same figures." She said.

Kyra nodded. "You're right, they did."

Lara turned the light to the staircase and advanced towards it. "Just wait here a second, I will get and get the chalice." She said.

They nodded and watched how Lara walked back on the stairs and slowly disappeared out of sight. Once she reached the top she opened the door and immediately had the altar in sight. Without paying attention to anything else she walked to the altar, kneeling down at the side where she'd found the chalice earlier. She pressed the button again and the chalice slowly appeared again.

Lara lifted it from the drawer and gave it another quick study, her fingers slowly touched the jewels on the chalice until she reached a triangle formed jewl and noticed it was slightly dislodged from the chalice.

"Hold on a second." She said to herself.

She reached for the jewel and pulled and pushed a bit at it until suddenly it disconnected with the chalice and was resting in the palm of her hand.

Lara smirked. "Right, would make it a bit difficult of course to use these still attached to the chalice." She said.

The tomb raider carefully removed the remaining stones from the chalice. Holding the stones in her right hand, she used her bandaged hand to put the chalice back in the drawer and went to close it. But as she reached for the drawer, a hand suddenly covered her mouth and an arm moved around her neck, pulling her away from the altar and dropping the recently acquired jewels that clattered to the ground.


	13. Storm

_A small apology for the long wait at this chapter, I've been busy and on holiday. Let's hope it was word the wait!_

**Chapter 13, Storm.**

Instinct told the tomb raider to struggle against whoever had grabbed her. She turned and twisted her body but the grip was strong and it didn't even feel for a split second her captor would let go of her. After another twist a man suddenly came in sight. The blonde haired, perfectly shaven man forced Lara to stop her struggles instantly, making her realize they were useless. Especially when six armed men showed up behind him, accompanied by Kyra's father.

Lara wondered who the man was that still had his hand covering her mouth. She took a glance over her shoulder. Even though not able to see all of his face, she saw enough to recognize this man as Gunderson. Lara panicked a bit, as she had seen him getting shot by Kyra, he'd died instantly, and yet he was here, alive. Karel noticed the confusion in her eyes and chuckled.

"Strange isn't it, Miss Croft. One moment he lies dead on Roman grounds and now he's here, alive and kicking." he took a few paces closer to her. "All powers I was willing to share with you, if only you took my hand back at the Strahov…"

A muffled shrug came from behind Gunderson's hand that still prevented her from speaking. It was more than clear to Karel that the answer he'd got was that she rather died then be at his side. While Lara had expected some form of punishment for her rudeness towards Karel, he didn't seem too fuzzed about it. His eyes went down to the floor behind her, where the jewels were scattered around. Karel walked over to them and one by one he started picking them up. Then he stepped next to Gunderson.

"Relieve her of that backpack and search her for weapons, then you can let her go. I'm quite certain Miss Croft is aware that with the slightest sound she'd make to warn her friends things might end badly for her."

He was sure to take another step forward to have eye contact with Lara and show her quite a wicked smile. Lara sighed, he had a good point though, she rather didn't want to end up with bullet holes. Her thoughts were interrupted by Gunderson removing his grip around her and yanking of her backpack. He threw it aside and a split second later his hands ran eagerly over her body to search her for weapons and she could see from the smile on his face that he was enjoying every second of it. Lara had no choice but to let it happen, unless she preferred to get hurt. When he finished searching her, and found both concealed knifes in her boots, he gave her a slight push, forcing the tomb raider on her knees.

"Be a good girl and stay there." He said and just wouldn't drop that annoying smile off his face.

As Gunderson stepped away, Karel came in sight holding the stones in his hand. He held them out to her. Lara didn't have to guess what his question was going to be.

"Tell me, Miss Croft, what's the intension behind these little jewels?"

Lara looked up to him. "Home decoration." She said

Karel shrugged. "But of course, I almost forgot. You refer to yourself as a complicated girl." he said, looking at Gunderson with a nod.

Lara watched as Gunderson moved over to her backpack. He reached for a knife, and then cut a big enough hole to look through in it.

"That's quite alright Miss Croft, I will just handle things differently then. Let's see how long it takes for your friends to understand the trouble you are in now."

Gunderson walked to the door that lead to the room downstairs, with the backpack still in his hand. As the door opened he looked down, dropping the bag seconds later. Lara was too far away to hear the dull sound once it connected with the floor below, but Gunderson heard it and closed the door again.

Lara cursed at herself, they must have seen her coming through the door when she went to pick up the jewels. She could hit herself for not noticing them in the room earlier. It was pretty obvious for Karel to figure out that Kyra and Kurtis were still down there. Her thoughts were interrupted when four of the six armed men walked over to the door they expected to open any second now. Two stood at the sides while the other two stayed in front of the door, weapons ready.

The tomb raider kept a close look at the door. Somewhere hoping they would not come walking out of it and found another way out. But remembering the room downstairs she couldn't think of any other way but the stairs. And her fear was confirmed when the door slowly opened and Kyra walked up front. Lara could see in her eyes that Kyra was planning to fight their way out. But the look in her eyes quickly changed when she saw Gunderson standing behind Lara, aiming his gun at her head.

Frustration was clearly visible in her eyes and against her will she raised her arms in the air. Once inside, Kurtis followed close behind her and mirrored her actions. The two men in front of them immediately started searching them for weapons. Didn't take long before Kurtis was disarmed from his gun and Chirugai and when Kyra was being searched her father stepped forward.

"Step aside, I'll be the one searching her." He said, almost pushing the two men aside.

The two mercenaries did not object and joined the other two who dragged Kurtis next to Lara, also forcing him on his knees.

"Sorry Kurtis, I didn't see them coming." Lara said, disappointed.

Kurtis shakes his head. "Not much you could have done anyways against almost a dozen men." He reassured her.

"Finally!"

Their short conversation was interrupted by the excited voice of Kyra's father. They looked up and saw the dagger Kyra had been carrying with her ever since she left Zurich, in her father's hands. Lara felt her eyes widen when he reared the dagger backwards and then slammed it in Kyra's abdomen.

Kyra screamed out in pain and Lara wanted to hurry over to her to help, a pure instinctive reaction. But Gunderson held her back. However, Karel stepped forward, pushing Archold aside while Kyra collapsed on her knees, clutching the heavily bleeding wound.

"I know you are eager to gain full control over the powers of your race, Archold, but do us all a favor and have a little patience while I sort my business first."

Archold looked up at Karel, and did not seem pleased by his interruption. But Karel noticed this and shook his head, moving his right hand up. This caused Archold to take a few paces back, taking Karel's threat quite serious as his eyes didn't move away from the Chirugai he was holding.

"You're not keeping to your end of the deal, Karel." He said angrily.

Karel chuckled. "Oh I am, there are just more important things that matter now." He said, turning to Lara and Kurtis. "Like those jewels, what are they for?"

"What jewels are you talking about." Kurtis lied.

Karel sighed, handing the Chirugai over to Gunderson. "You see, this is why I decided to bring you all here, so that I have leverage. And let's start with Miss Croft. I already broke her left hand, would you prefer me to break her other hand too, Mister Trent?"

Kurtis remained quiet, he didn't want to give the information away that easy. It seemed Karel's patience was shortly fused. He knelt down next to Lara and got hold of her right hand. Karel looked at Kurtis and was about ready to break it.

"Wait…" Lara said, not planning on having her other hand broken too. "We found a hidden compartment downstairs, but it was locked. Those jewels should be the key to opening it."

Kurtis looked at her confused. Maybe it was just him, but he hadn't expected her to give in to the answer that easily. But he could also understand Lara was not looking forward to have her other hand broken too, and it didn't look like Karel was bluffing. Karel chuckled and let go of her hand.

"A wise choice to answer my question. If only you were as smart as your British friend, Mister Trent."

"Very funny." Kurtis said annoyed.

Karel ignored him and nodded at Gunderson. "Marten, we are going down the staircase, keep your men upstairs, here with Archold." He ordered.

"Of course, Master Karel."

"I don't need your men to watch me, Joachim."

Karel looked up. "I did not leave them to watch you, Archold. I leave them because I no longer need their services. Now do whatever it is you want, we are going downstairs."

Gunderson pushed Kurtis and Lara towards the door leading to the room they had just been in. Lara took a quick glance at Kyra, she looked terrible, and seemed to be fighting for her life at the moment. She still clutched the bleeding wound with her left hand, while her right hand leaned on the floor, hoping to find some sort of support.

But there was nothing Lara could do for her, another push from Gunderson forced her down the staircase and soon all four of them were walking down, leaving Kyra alone with her father and the only weapon present that was able to kill her.

* * *

Lara stumbled and almost fell when Gunderson pushed her down the final step into the room. Karel was already in the room and studied it carefully. Lara saw a green bolt of energy appearing in his hand and as fast as it appeared he threw it at one of the cupboards. It was set to fire immediately, but the greenish looking flames remained controlled and functioned as a light source to lit the room.

Karel moved to the compartment Lara had found behind the painting. He studied it calmly, with his hands behind his back. Lara and Kurtis couldn't do anything with Gunderson standing at the end of the staircase, gun raised. They had no choice but to watch as Karel pulled out the stones and placed them in the compartment one by one. To Lara everything went in slow-motion. If he managed to get the compartment open and the weapon was in there everything was over. Karel would destroy it and there were no means left to kill the Nephilim.

And after he destroyed the weapon, it no doubt would be their turn. But they were helpless, they could not stop him and Lara watched in horror as Karel placed the final stone, the triangle, in the matching slot. All four of them expected something to happen, to hear a click or to see the door open. But nothing happened, the compartment stayed closed, the secret inside still not uncovered.

Lara could hear Karel growl in frustration, he tilted his head towards them and he did not look pleased at all. Instinctively Kurtis stepped in front of Lara to protect her. It was clear his anger was directed towards her, not him.

"Care to explain this little problem, Miss Croft." He demanded to know.

Lara smirked. "I would if I could, this is as surprising to me as it is to you." She said and was actually happy it didn't open yet.

He took a step closer. "Why is it that I have trouble believing you, Miss Croft. Perhaps that annoying smirk on your face."

His voice was dark enough to make Lara regret her words and hide the smirk on her face instantly. Kurtis remained in front of her and spoke.

"She's not lying though. We expected those stones to be the key."

Karel paused shortly, looking at the Lux Veritartis. He was in thought for a few moments, then he stepped to the side.

"Well then, you better start solving it."

Kurtis stepped forward, but Karel grabbed his shoulder, pushing him back.

"Not you." He said, turning to Lara. "Miss Croft, and you better hurry or Mister Trent will have a few broken bones as well…or worse."

Lara looked up in surprise, but didn't hesitate and stepped forward. A part of her still wanted to know what was behind that door. But on the other hand she wondered why she was doing this, once the compartment was open he would kill them anyway, there was no doubt about that.

She studied the jewels. Karel had positioned them correctly, each one in the matching socket. Her eyes narrowed at the stones, not understanding why it just hadn't opened. The system seemed so simple, put in the jewels and open it. Perhaps there was a broken piece inside of it and prevented it from working, but then she thought of something else. Something obvious that Karel actually could have figured out himself.

Her right hand moved forward, the jewel most to the left was a triangle, she pressed it, there was a short clicking sound. Lara smiled, she was right. The openings with the jewels attached had turned into buttons, all she had to do was press them, any idiot could do that. Even Karel, she joked to herself.

Lara continued pressing the buttons, the circle next to the triangle followed, and then the square. All that remained was the star and another confirming clicking sound echoed through the room. Quite anxious, Karel stepped next to her, expecting for something to happen…but once again nothing happened.

Frustrated Karel turned to Kurtis and delivered a strong punch to his jaw. Kurtis stumbled backwards, grunting in pain.

"That was uncalled for." Lara said, wanting to walk over him to help.

But Karel blocked her path, clearly not amused by the current situation.

"You are testing my patience, Miss Croft. Solve…the…problem."

Lara knew protesting had no use, a quick worried glance towards Kurtis told her he was fine. He stood back on his feet again, rubbing his hand over his jaw to ease the pain. She turned back to the compartment in front of her. She went into deep thought, her eyes not leaving the jewels. There was only one other option she could think of, press the buttons in a different sequence. But what could possibly be the order to press them? There were tons of different possibilities.

"Miss Croft!" Karel warned her again.

Without looking up from the jewels she answered him.

"Just give me a moment, I need to find out in what order I need to press them." She said agitated.

He stepped next to her, leaning down. His face inches away from hers, it startled her a bit.

"In case you didn't notice yet, neither you, nor Mister Trent have a moment. I'll give you a minute to think this through, or I'll have Gunderson put a bullet in his head."

Lara knew that killing them was inevitable, but the longer she could postpone it and hope for a miracle, the better. She swallowed deeply and thought really carefully. A triangle, circle, square and star. What could be their connection? This had to be pure math. Something Lara had never excelled in, but certainly was not her worst skill either. Repeatedly she kept mentioning the four forms in her head. Triangle, square, circle, star, and again, and again.

"The clock is ticking Miss Croft, half a minute left."

She barely heard the words, her eyes suddenly widened and she slowly started to realize she was going at this all wrong. Before she knew it her hand reached out to the jewels, and she started to think out loud.

"It couldn't be that simple, could it?" she said, pulling the jewels back out.

She turned them around and looked at the back, a smile formed on her face.

"It is that simple." She said, still thinking aloud.

A hand suddenly got a strong grip around her arm and yanked her closer to the owner of the hand, Karel. "What are you doing…Miss Croft?" He said on a soft but rather angry tone.

Lara pulled her arm free and held up one of the jewels. "Look at the back." She said.

Surprisingly enough Karel did as Lara said. He found the same result as Lara had spotted, three horizontal lines on it. Lara held two other jewels up to him, one held only one line the other one held four. A smirk from ear to ear was slowly finding its way across Karel's face. But it faded when he saw Lara moving back to the compartment.

"Oh no you don't, give them to me." He said, grabbing her arm and pulling her back once again.

Lara did not even have a chance to react to it, or to even hand him the jewels. The roof above them suddenly started shaking, followed by a faint rumbling sound. Small pieces of debris came falling down, one bigger piece was on its way to land directly at Lara and Karel. Karel stepped to the right, dragging Lara with him because she still held the jewels. The debris missed her for a few inches. All four present in the room looked up, the rumbling and shaking slowly faded.

"What was that?" Kurtis asked.

Lara looked at him worried, she had a faint clue on what the reason behind these rumblings were.

"An angry father getting what he wants…sadly…" she said, disappointment clearly sounded in her voice.

Her thoughts were distracted when Karel reached for her hand and yanked the jewels out of it. Lara had no time to react to it, even if she did, Gunderson would probably have intervened. They both could only watch as Karel put the jewels in the fitting slots in the correct order. When he had one jewel left to put in Lara could feel the floor beneath her feet shake again. For a split second it looked like it stopped, then an explosion sounded, making the rumbling and shaking walls increase by the second.

Lara looked up and saw a big white flash. Her eyes narrowed from the bright light, a split second later she felt something flying past her, crashing down on the floor a few yards away from her. The crashing sound from the object was combined with a loud but short grunt. The tomb raider looked down, slightly flinching at the sight in front of her. The object was the door from upstairs, the explosion had probably dislodged it and now the door had found its way on Gunderson. But because of the speed it came falling down, it had completely crushed his body, definitely not a pretty sight.

Her view on the bloody scene was suddenly interrupted when someone grabbed her arm, yanking her back. The owner of the hand was Kurtis, and he was just in time as a big rock landed on the spot where Lara had been standing.

"We have to get back up, before the staircase collapses." Kurtis said.

Lara nodded, they both knew though that there was one more obstacle, Karel. When they looked up, he stood in front of them and the staircase. He held a smile, shaking his head. The Nephilim was not planning on letting them go. But gravity disagreed with him as a wave of debris came falling down on him as well as on Lara and Kurtis.

Kurtis looked up, he had to do something now or they would get trapped here under all the debris. He narrowed his eyes and spotted a bigger piece of debris falling down. The American did not hesitate and activated his telepathic abilities. His hand reached out to the rock and then he threw his hand down. The rock changed course, colliding with Karel at full speed. The Nephilim was knocked back and collapsed to the floor. The final stone he held to open the compartment dropped on the floor from his hand.

Lara saw it happen and didn't hesitate. She stepped towards Karel and slammed her foot down on the jewel. It was crushed in a thousand pieces, the only thought crossing her mind; if we can't get to it, neither can he. It would stay locked behind that door, unreachable for all of them.

"Croft!"

Lara's action had angered the Nephilim once more. He pushed the rock off his body and lunged forward, reaching for the leg that had just crushed the jewel. He was too fast for Lara to react, but Kurtis had seen it coming and before Karel knew it he had another piece of debris flying at him, sending him backwards against the wall again.

"Lara, run!" Kurtis yelled.

He reached out to her, Lara ran towards him as fast as she could, and Kurtis guided her up on the staircase.

"Keep running, don't look up!"

He followed her closely, together they ran up the stairs, avoiding debris that came falling down as much as they could. Lara could already see the exit, but whether it was safe inside the chapel was yet to be seen. There was no doubt that this was caused by Kyra's father, or was there a possible way for Kyra to stop her father with a deadly injury in her stomach. Lara hoped so, but feared for the worst.

Still running as fast as she could, she saw only a few more steps and then she made it to the top. Lara risked a short peek over her shoulder, stopping for a split second. Kurtis was there, only a few steps behind her. But Lara saw something flying at him, a green bolt of energy, and it came closer to him at full speed.

"Kurtis watch out!" she yelled at him.

The Lux Veritartis looked over his shoulder and saw the energy bolt flying at him. Lightning fast he jumped up, the bolt just barely missed him. But it hit the staircase, which slowly collapsed under his feet. He looked up, watching Lara's relieved look on her face. But this tight moment had put Lara off guard. The tomb raider never noticed another wave of debris coming down exactly where she stood. Kurtis felt his eyes widen, there was only one thing the demon hunter could do.

He lunged forward, his hands stretching outwards. Lara grunted in pain as his hands connected with her shoulder and pushed her back through the door opening, out of harms way. Lara could only just see the rocks falling down on him as she skidded across the floor for a few meters.

"No!" she screamed and quickly scrambled back to her feet.

As quickly as possible the British woman ran back to the door opening. Lara looked down, her eyes desperately searching for Kurtis, but there was no sign of him anymore…


	14. Responsibility

_**Chapter 14, Responsibilty.**_

"Leave…"

It was the second time Archold had said this to the six men Karel had left behind. They refused to disobey the order of their leader though and did not move an inch when Archold threatened them the first time. But now it was different, he'd stepped behind Kyra, arms folded but his right hand still grasped around the bloodied Ferilium dagger he'd used on Kyra. It was his eyes though, that started to scare the mercenaries. These men had never seen anything like it. The eyes looked to be completely black, as if his pupils had dilated entirely.

Slowly the armed men started pacing backwards, but also felt threatened enough to keep their rifles aimed at him. Archold could see the fear and confusion in their eyes. The sods had no idea what they'd ended up in. Gunderson had probably left the evil immortal overlords part out of the agreement he had made with these men. And frankly, who these days believes in the Supernatural? Only a handful of people, and certainly not these mercenaries. Even so, Kyra's father did not agree with the slow pace they used to get out of the chapel.

"I said leave!"

This time it was not only his eyes that scared these men. His voice was deep and dark, with an inhuman edge in it. His words were loud and echoed through the chapel. It finally had the effect on the men that he wanted to though. They ran as if their behinds were on fire, one of them even stumbled over a broken piece from a bench and fell down. He was quickly helped back on his feet by two of the other mercenaries. Six well trained men, normally very disciplined and calm, were now running for their lives. Archold chuckled, to him it was only funny. But of course it felt good to be feared.

"Mortals…worthless they are." He muttered.

He looked down at Kyra, the fellow immortal was struggling against the wound in her stomach. There was already a small pool of blood forming itself on the floor in front of her. She coughed and groaned, doing her best to fight against the pain.

"You have no idea how long I've waited for this moment."

Archold walked around his daughter, looking down searching for a pair of blue eyes to look back at him. It appeared the blue eyes were willing to look back, they were even combined with a small smile.

"Well I don't know, maybe from the moment I plunged that knife in your heart?"

Archold knelt down to level her height before he answered her. "Long before that, my darling daughter." He spat the words out, making clear to Kyra just how much he cared for her.

"Is this the part where you are going to tell me you planned this even before you married mother? Did you even love her?"

Where Kyra had expected the answer for her question to be as careless as his last words, his response was different and brought a frown upon her face. He fell silent for a moment, looking away from Kyra. But not in time for her to see the pain in his eyes. So he did love mother, but that only disgusted her. Archold looked back at her, the short flash of sadness Kyra had seen on his face was completely gone, replaced by the well known anger and vengeance.

"When your mother died a new world opened for me. If we were truly immortals, nothing would be able to kill us, not even our own metal. I started looking for a way around this, did not want the same thing happen to me. I knew about the ritual for the Feloner, but at first you weren't selected for this task."

"You senseless piece of shit. Mother died and all you could think of was your immortality? You selfish bastard!"

Kyra's burst of anger shot through the painful injury in her stomach. She flinched at the pain it caused, but did not regret her words towards her father. How could she have lived all those years thinking her father loved her, loved his family. Had he never given a clue about his evil plans, had she really never noticed anything. No, the Feloner knew she had to stop thinking like this, she would not let him make her feel guilty about the faith of her family, her race.

His response to her anger followed with a chuckle. "Thanks to me you became the Feloner and lived this long. You should be grateful!" to make his point he swiped his hand across her face, leaving a small cut and stinging feeling with the seal rings he had around two of his fingers.

"Grateful? For what, spending my entire life on the run knowing nothing but betrayal, loss and pain? I don't think so."

Archold waved her words off.

"It does not matter, it was all part of my plan. I killed the kid who would have become the Feloner and then offered you to the King as the next in line. He took my offer, so all there was left to do was make you believe whatever I wanted, it was perfect…"

Kyra shakes her head in disappointment. "You are crazy. A disgrace to our family, to the Ferilium." She spat at him.

"What Ferilium? There is no one left, no one but us." He knelt down again, grasping her jaw. "And soon it will be only me and my plan has succeeded."

Kyra chuckled. "Soon? I wouldn't take your time if I were you."

Archold let go of her jaw, standing back up he started walking around her.

"No, I want you to know everything before you die. You have to die knowing your entire life has been nothing but one big lie." He stopped walking when he was in front of her again, locking their eyes together. "That your brothers and sisters died by your hand because I was the one who tipped off the Cabal, that started the final battle."

The evil smile on his face increased when he saw Kyra had no answer ready this time, but the Feloner was unable to stop the tears from leaving her eyes, finding their way down her cheek.

"That's right, if it wasn't for me you all could have gotten old together, with children, and perhaps even grandchildren. In fact, we might still have existed in bigger numbers."

His words cut her deep and the worst part was that Archold was enjoying this. Hundreds of years on the run, and for what? Nothing but lies. Perhaps it was time to stop fighting to stay alive, perhaps she should just give in and let her father win. At least she would be with her family again, with mother and her brothers and sisters. What could she possibly do, she was slowly bleeding to death anyways. Lara and Kurtis were downstairs with Karel and Gunderson, were they even still alive?

Never ever in the hundreds of years she spend running had she given up. Kyra didn't regret that still, not even after knowing it had all been for her father's greed. But now, with her life already hanging on a really thin line, perhaps it was time now. No more running, no more fear for betrayal, or the loss of someone she cares about. It was time, time to finally embrace her death and find peace. She barely even heard her father anymore, who continued humiliating her.

"Can you imagine the power I will have once your soul merges with the blade? Healing abilities, having the power of God, decide who lives and who dies. No more fear of death lurking around the corner, not even our own metal will be able to kill me."

He knelt down once again, reaching out the grasp a handful of Kyra's hair, forcefully yanking her head back. Kyra didn't seem to care anymore. Her hand moved away from the injury and her eyes were locked on his. But at the same time they were distant, distracted, they had given up. But her father kept his word and wouldn't stop talking until he finished his story.

"And I will no longer be just able to move objects with my mind, no, I will be able to control people, to look into people's minds. Imagine being able to control the mind of a world leader like the President of the United States, or the Queen of England. I can have the world lying at my feet, without people knowing it."

Why would she care, Kyra was already going to die anyway. Why didn't he just get it over with. Healing powers, real immortality, psychic abilities, so the world will come to an end, big deal. The Feloner spend more than enough time protecting it.

_Don't give up now, you are the Feloner._

Kyra looked around startled, what was that? Who said that? There was no one left in the chapel except for her and Archold. Perhaps she just heard things, spooking her own mind. But then why did she hear it, or say it. Why could she not feel content with just giving up…

"And now, it's time for you to die, finally."

Still holding his grip around her hair, he yanked her upwards. Kyra could not stop the yelp of pain. The loss of blood made it barely possible for her to stand on her feet. If Archold would let her go, she would collapse. The Ferilium traitor searched for her eyes, he wanted to see them when he finally stuck that dagger in her heart. But what he found in her eyes was suddenly no longer the look of a woman giving into defeat, suddenly they emitted confidence and courage. That was just a woman embracing her death, right?

Archold couldn't be more wrong. The Feloner gathered all the strength she had left and slammed her head forward, sending out a perfect headbut. The cracking noise that followed was not only from his nose breaking, but the same thing happened to her. It hurt, and blood poured down her face. It was something Kyra had to worry about later, she could not give up now. Power like that should not be entrusted to a madman like her father, the consequences would be devastating.

Kyra's headbut knocked Archold backwards, forcing him to lose his grip around her hair. The Feloner knew she could not hold back now, adrenaline was rushing through her body. It kept her going, making her forget about all the pain her body was in. There was no hesitation when she lunged forward, their bodies collided, both of them crashed down to the floor.

"I will not let you kill me." She screamed out.

They were struggling, Kyra's father doing his best to hold on to the dagger. But she forced him on his back, hands reaching out to the dagger. She tried to twist his wrist, for a moment she thought it was working and the dagger loosened. But Archold fought back just as the dagger clattered on the floor. His knee moved up, with inhuman speed and force it connected with her stomach. Directly on the wound he had made there himself a few minutes ago.

Kyra fell backwards, her back connecting forcefully with the cold chapel floor. She screamed out in pain. More blood poured from the wound in her stomach, adrenaline was slowly fading from her body.

"Perhaps you want to repeat what you just said, I couldn't hear you."

The father of the Feloner did not appreciate her short outburst. He was angry and expressed this by delivering a painful kick at her side. Kyra rolled over, grunting in pain.

"Look at you, you're bleeding all over the floor, it's a miracle you are still breathing.

He approached her again, Archold didn't hold back anymore and delivered another kick, this time to the side of her head. Kyra felt her eyebrow split open, but could not give up. She looked down on the floor behind her father. The dagger was lying there, the Feloner knew that was the only way to defeat her father, she had to get it now.

Without thinking she moved her leg out, it connected with her father and swooped his legs from under him. He fell on the floor with a sickening thud. Kyra did not think twice, no longer able to walk she crawled to the dagger, praying that she had enough time before her father recovered from her attack. The Feloner was not far from the dagger now, her hopes growing by the second. But then a hand got hold of her ankle, she groaned in frustration when her fingers were only a few inches away from the Ferilium metal before she was pulled back.

"Where are you going?"

Kyra struggled, kicking her free leg backwards in the hopes to hit her father, so that he would let go of her again. Maybe for the first time tonight luck was on her side, her right foot made a direct hit with his face. Archold screamed in pain and staggered backwards. Kyra needed not think twice, the Feloner crawled forward again. This time her bloodied fingers did get a grip around the handle of the dagger. She turned around, hoping to find enough reserves to stand back on her feet.

"Give that dagger to me!" he yelled out.

Kneeling down he reached for the hand holding the Ferilium metal. Another struggle followed. But Kyra was determined to hold on to it. Her father might have said that her life has been an entire lie, that her brothers and sister never got the chance to get old because of his treason. But it was not true. Her brothers and sisters had been with her all these years, their souls had been in the dagger and she had it with her always.

They were what kept her going all these years and they will be the ones who will keep her going, who will give her courage. The life of the Feloner had not been one big lie, it won't be, not unless she would let her father win and let him plug that dagger in her heart. But she will not let that happen, not after discovering all this, after finding out how dangerous he would be should he get these powers. No, there was a reason why Kyra was the Feloner.

Kyra found herself lying on her back, her father leaned over her, both his hands held her wrist. He slammed it down forcefully on the floor, over and over again. It hurt, a lot. Even more when she thought of all the pain she was in already.

"You will not have it, aaaah!"

The Feloner screamed out. Her free hand balled into a fist, she used it with all the force she had left in her body. The fist connected with the side of his head. Archold lost his grip around her wrist and fell backwards, Kyra did not hesitate and lunged at him, holding the dagger in front of her with both hands. Before she fell on top of him he grabbed her hands in midair, hoping to turn the dagger around before their bodies collided.

The blade of the dagger connected with human flesh, both of them could hear it cut through skin, the smell of blood entering their nostrils. Both of them gasped, not able to grasp the moment. Slowly they parted, kyra rolled on her stomach, Archold fell on his back. The Feloner kept her eyes closed for a few seconds. Slowly, carefully, they opened. Kyra moved her head to her right hand, the dagger was still in it, the blade once again covered in fresh blood. Then she heard her father cough.

"How?...Impossible…"

Kyra found strength to crawl up on her knees, to kneel down next to her father. He had a heavy bleeding wound directly where his heart was, it was a miracle he was still breathing. Kyra took a deep breath before answering.

"You talk too much, father."

His eyes closed, he let out his final breath. Kyra let out a breath she had no idea she was holding. But as she thought it was over, she suddenly felt a burning pain in her right hand. Startled she looked down at it, and saw the dagger had lit up in flames. It hurt, Kyra wanted to drop the knife, but she couldn't. The pain increased, her eyes widened when she saw three lines colored in the orange of the flames move up under the skin of arm, slowly, but painfully. The lines moved further up and disappeared under her clothes.

The ground below her suddenly started shaking, and soon the walls of the chapel followed. But she barely noticed that. All she felt was the burning pain under her skin. First her other arm, then her upper body and even down to her legs. The more of her body it covered the more pain and agony she felt. Kyra screamed, as loud as she could, wishing she could drop the dagger, but she could not. So she screamed louder, and the louder she screamed the worse the chapel and the floor below her started shaking. Throbbing pain filled her head when the lines of fire moved up to her head as well, even her eyes were covered by the liquid. Never had she felt so much pain before. It was too intense, darkness was engulfing her. The Feloner's eyes rolled backwards as she fell into unconsciousness.

The shaking slowly faded. Her body slammed to the floor, her right arm outstretched as the lines of fire slowly faded from her skin. Finally her hand opened and the dagger fell out. In Kyra's hand was a scar. A perfectly formed scar in the shape of a flower. The flower held five leafs, each leaf representing her fallen brothers and sisters. And the fifth, the fifth belonged to her father, who had been finally been defeated.


	15. Moving on

_Hey all. This is the last chapter, thanks to all who've read and reviewed this story. I hope you enjoy this final installment!_

**Chapter 15, Moving on.**

Her eyes searched desperately in the dark depths below her, in the hopes of finding even a glimpse of the Lux Veritartis. Why did he do that, why did he have to be the hero and push her away from the debris that threatened to fall down on her. What was Kurtis thinking.

"You idiot…" she mumbled softly.

Her hands got hold of the doorpost, leaning even further down. "He can't be dead, he just can't." How else would she yell at him for being such an idiot. Lara should have been the one down there, not him. She was the one who let her guard down for a few seconds, she deserved to be down there, not him. Kurtis should not pay for her moment of weakness.

"Kurtis!"

Lara figured she might as well start yelling already. But deep down the tomb raider knew she would not get a response. Falling down that deep with a rain of debris closing in was impossible to survive. Giving up was never an option though, Lara would never give up, that's not in her nature. She risked to take a step down the shattered staircase. There were three more left before it'd broken down and there was a big gap to where the rest of the staircase was.

Her eyes roamed down into the depths again. The wood below her feet cracked and threatened to break down under her weight. Lara balanced herself, but refused to get back into the chapel, it will just have to hold her a little while longer. Though It probably wasn't a good idea to stay here and yell for Kurtis. After all, Karel was still down there as well. While all the debris down there would definitely keep him busy for a while, it would not kill him, whereas for Kurtis it had probably meant his end.

No, it hadn't, it couldn't.

"Kurtis, Damn it!" she yelled again.

"For heaven's sake Lara, keep your voice down."

The tomb raider was about to risk another step down, but froze in midair when she actually got a response. She didn't imagine that, did she? Was that really his voice? Lara had to be sure, but as he warned her to keep her voice down she decided to do so.

"Is that really you, Kurtis?" she asked in almost a whisper.

She heard a groan before he answered. "Yes Lara, you don't get rid of me that easy." From the sound of his hoarse voice Lara could tell though that he was injured, struggling.

"Where are you, I can't see you."

In response she heard another groan, followed by the sound of more debris falling down.

"I'm trying to climb up at the side of the stairs. But this thing is slowly falling apart."

The tomb raider narrowed her eyes, she caught movement, finally. Lara caught sight of fingers desperately grasping the side of the stairs and slowly the owner of the fingers came in sight, with his feet desperately dangling in the air with every attempt he took to climb up. The relief in her eyes was replaced by worry however. His right arm was completely covered in blood, her eyes moved up to his shoulder, where the source of all the blood was. The deep gash she saw there was even still seeping blood.

"Bugger, Kurtis…your shoulder."

Kurtis chuckled as he climbed up on another staircase. "Please don't remind me Lara, I'm struggling already as it is." He stated.

"Can't you pull yourself on top of the stairs, surely that would be easier to do then just climbing at the bottom?"

He shakes his head slightly. "I don't think standing on top of it would improve the state of the staircase. It's already about to collapse. Besides, I can't pull myself up that much with the injured shoulder."

This panicked Lara, how would he make it to her side then once he reached the end of the staircase.

"Kurtis…" was all she managed to stammer.

Kurtis stopped his climbing journey for a moment. "I know Lara…you should go. I'll try and stay here in the hopes to stop Karel." he said softly.

Lara shrugged. "Right, in that state you are in now? All he has to do is snap his finger and you'd be dead."

Kurtis ignored her words. "Where is Kyra?" he asked Lara.

Lara looked over her shoulder into the chapel, from where she was she couldn't see Kyra. But suddenly she realized the reason behind his question. If Archold had managed to kill her then down there Karel was lurking in the depths, but back in the chapel Archold would be hiding somewhere in the chapel.

Kurtis was right, Lara should get out while she still can, otherwise both of them would be dead and Kurtis his ridiculous sacrifice would have been for nothing. When she searched for his eyes, Lara saw he drew the same conclusion. It was too dangerous to stick around for Lara, she had to leave.

"No!" she said angry. " I'm not leaving you behind. Either we both die or we get out of her together, but I will not leave you."

Worry covered the face of the Lux Veritartis. "What? No Lara, are you crazy? Get the hell out of here." He yelled at her.

"No! I refuse to, I'm taking you with me. Whether you like it or not."

Slightly hesitant she took another step forward, losing her grip from the doorpost. Another cracking sound echoed around them. The wood below her feet slightly bulged. Lara stumbled a bit but found her balance again surprisingly easy.

"For crying out loud, Lara. Don't do it, it's too dangerous."

Lara looked up to him and smiled. "I thought we were supposed to keep our voices down, in case Karel would hear us from under all that debris?" she said teasingly, trying to distract him.

It didn't work though, the worry on his face mixed with anger, a lot of it.

"Lara I swear to God, it's not worth it. I didn't push you away just so you can be stubborn and die anyway. That's not why I did it."

Lara knelt down, holding her broken hand out to the Lux Veritartis. "Shut up, Kurtis. Just grab my hand." She said firmly.

"Can't you please just forget about it Lara, please just go." He said, his pleading eyes burned into hers.

She shakes her head. "Kurtis…the staircase will hold it, just trust me, please."

He chuckled, shaking his head. "Oh hell, why not." He said and reached out to her hand.

Their fingertips connected briefly, then the wood below Lara cracked again, and suddenly gave in. Nothing but thin air was below the tomb raider now, and before she had time to realize it she fell down into the depths.

"Lara no!" Kurtis yelled.

Lara suddenly realized Kurtis had been right all along. Why had she been so stubborn, why couldn't she just leave him behind. Now he had to watch her fall down to her death, something he had given his life for to prevent from happening a few minutes earlier.

Lara grunted in pain when something wrapped itself around her broken wrist and interrupted her fall. An agonizing cry of pain echoed around them, the pain at her wrist was immense and unexpected. But through all the pain Lara realized she was dangling through the air. Whatever had just happened, it prevented her from falling to her death. The tomb raider looked up and saw a familiar but at the same time strange looking person lying down from the door opening, staring down at Lara.

"Kyra?" she said confused.

The confusion was because her eyes were dilated with an orange color, as if they were on fire. And when Lara looked down she saw the source of her pain. It was Kyra who had managed to grab her wrist at the very last second and prevented the tomb raider from falling to her death.

She caught sight of three lines of the same color as Kyra's eyes running down the Feloner's arm. Lara was startled when suddenly those lines ran down her own arm. She panicked for a second, unsure of how to react to this strange event. But suddenly she felt her jaw drop when the immense pain in her arm, caused by Kyra's grip, was slowly fading.

"Bloody hell what did-"

"Not now Lara, hold your hand out to Kurtis."

Lara turned her head around and saw she was now actually at the same height as Kurtis. The last of the Lux Veritartis smirked at her.

"Hello Lara, how's it hanging."

Lara shakes her head, in any other situation she would have slapped him. "Shut up and grab my hand." She said, offering a similar smirk in return.

Kurtis hesitated, looking up to Kyra. "Are you sure, can you hold us both?" he wondered.

Kyra rolled her eyes. "Are you going to hang around till I answer that, or will you just grab her hand?"

He had barely grabbed the tomb raider's hand when suddenly he felt a strange warm feeling in his injured shoulder. Looking at it, the same three flaming lines that Lara had on her injured arm spread over his shoulder. Time to comment on it was not an option though. Before he knew it both he and the tomb raider were flying up in the air. In one swift simple movement they stood in the chapel again, out of harm's way. Both Lara and Kurtis blinked. They both had been lifted up in the air as if they weight nothing at all, completely effortless.

Lara heard a strange electric noise behind her, turning her feet the tomb raider let her eyes fall on an orange force field now replacing the heavy wooden door that had connected with Gunderson not that long ago. The tomb raider stepped forward and looked down into the depths, then up, noticing the force field formed a 'box' around the chamber, no doubt functioning as a prison cell of sorts.

"A precaution, to make sure our Nephilim doesn't escape when he wakes up. Might not be dead, but at least we can confine him."

Lara turned back to the Feloner. "Will it hold him?" she wondered and saw the flaming color in her eyes was gone now and replaced by the deep sea blue color Lara was used to.

"It will until I'm dead, and apparently that's not easy to accomplish."

"What the hell happened to you Kyra? We thought you'd be dead, especially after the entire chapel started falling down on us." Kurtis said.

Kyra smirked.

"I would have been if my father hadn't insisted on confessing his sins to me. He wanted me to know every detailed lie that had been part of me growing up and becoming the Feloner. Kept on talking till a point where I knew it was now or never. We fought a bit and I ended up on the right end of the knife."

The Feloner held out her hands to the two friends. One of them holding the perfectly crafted dagger, the other one showing the flower formed scar. Lara felt her jaw drop at the sight of it, curiosity got the better of her, slowly moving the index of her finger over the scar. She wasn't sure if the _fascinating_ she mumbled was only in her head or actually aloud, didn't care either. Lara knew that in her line of work she'd seen a lot of the supernatural, but this was rare indeed.

Not to mention the fact that the tomb raider thought the Ferilium to be a legend. This against her own believes even. Because Lara always said that every legend holds a truth, that there always was a clue somewhere that would lead to it. But with the Ferilium it was different, there was only so little known about them. But perhaps it was more a case of never being able to find anything, instead of believing it was just a legend.

"Can I have my hand back now, please?"

Kyra's familiar voice brought the tomb raider back to reality. With a soft chuckle Lara did what was asked and removed her grip from the Feloner's hand.

"What exactly happened to you then, what's the explanation for me and Kurtis losing our injuries?"

"I could give you an hour long explanation to that question. But I am not going to. In short, I now truly am the only Ferilium left in the world, not only representing my people, but I am my people. All the knowledge, all the powers we once had are now inside of me. The scrolls are no longer needed, everything is in here." She said, pointing one finger to the side of her head.

"However, these powers that now lie within me carry an even greater responsibility then I thought I once already had on my shoulders."

Lara narrowed her eyes, she now saw why Kyra found a reason to fight back at her father. He'd told her about the powers it would bring, should he have killed her. Powers like this could not be entrusted to a madman, the results would be devastating.

"What will you do?" Kurtis asked.

"I will start by destroying all the scrolls I had, they are only a burden to me now that I don't need them anymore, wouldn't want to risk them falling in the wrong hands."

"Didn't your father have them as well?" Lara remembered.

Her question was confirmed by a nod. "He does, I need to find those too. But I don't know where they are…yet. Still, it will be a challenging task."

Kyra slowly started a pace towards the exit of the chapel. She was followed by Lara and Kurtis. The tomb raider glanced to her left, where she saw Archold's body motionless on the floor, his eyes still open. A large pool of blood surrounded his body, it was clear there wasn't a single bit of life left in him.

Once they were outside Kyra stopped, turning to them. The look on her face was different now. It was a look Lara recognized out of a million, it was time to say goodbye and goodbye's are never easy.

"It's been great knowing you Lara, and I'm sorry the way we met had not really been what you call perfect. But we turned out alright, at least I like to think so."

Lara pulled up a small smile. "I'd like to think so too, Kyra. And frankly, I'm not happy to see you leave, there are still so many questions I want to ask you. But that is the archaeologist in me talking."

"Hah, I knew you were going to say that. But I'm sure I don't have to ask you to keep the knowledge of my existence to yourself." She turned to Kurtis. "The same goes to you, Lux Veritartis."

Kurtis drew a sad face, placing his hand on his hard. "Madam! You wound me. I would never do that."

"Saying that really doesn't make me feel any better, you know." Kyra replied with a smile.

Lara couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Don't worry Kyra, your secret is obviously save with us."

"Thanks, Lara. For everything."

The Feloner stepped forward, the two women shared a short hug before Kyra stepped away and shared the same hug with Kurtis.

"Goodbye you guys, who knows, our paths might cross again in the future."

If there was anything they wanted to say still, it was too late for them. There was a bright orange flash on the spot where Kyra just stood. Lara had to flicker her eyes a few times to recover from it, but there was no sign of Kyra anymore, all she saw was trees and bushes.

"Well then, goodbye to you too." Lara muttered softly, but held her smile, understanding the departure of the Feloner.

* * *

After Kyra had left Lara made a few calls to get Shugrave to come and pick them up. Kurtis had came with her to the mansion for a few days, but now he too was going to leave. Lara had offered to buy him a ticket to wherever he wanted to go. But first of all, Kurtis hates flying publicly and second, he had no idea where he was going yet. So they were in the perfectly maintained front yard and Kurtis stepped on one of Lara's bikes, which she had offered to him instead.

"Are you sure you want me to have one of your bikes, Lara?" he asked.

"I'm not giving it to you, I'm lending it because I'm expecting you to come back some day to return it."

Kurtis tipped an eyebrow. "And what if I had important stuff to do as well, just like Kyra?" he joked.

His joke received a sarcastic shrug in response.

"Oh please Kurtis, Karel is trapped, there are no means left to kill him. The only thing you and Kyra have in common is that you are both the last of your kind."

"Heh, touché Lara."

Her face turned more serious, her once injured left hand gently rested on his shoulder. "I'm serious though, please don't be a stranger this time. Come by every now and then, I'd appreciate that." She said softly.

Kurtis reached for her hand, holding it in his own. Slowly he moved it to her cheek, releasing his grip for it to slide down, leaving only his own hand on the soft skin of her cheek. Lara shivered under his touch, Kurtis could see it made her uncomfortable. But the American refused to give up and leaned in, their lips only parted for a few inches.

He'd probably hoped she wouldn't back away. But fear snuck into the tomb raider's body, memories shifting back to the day in the hotel room back in Rome. Where Karel tried to take advantage of her by pretending to be Kurtis. It had cut her deep, too deep. So she stepped away, slightly shaking her head.

"I can't, Kurtis…"

"I'm sorry Lara…I didn't mean to…" he replied hesitant.

Had she given him a feeling there was something special blooming between them? A few quick thought back to the day in the chapel told her that the scene with her trying to save his life might have left the wrong impression on him. But what else should she have done then. Lara cared for Kurtis, a lot. Especially after the events of the last week. But love? With him involved, she couldn't…not now with these events so fresh in her memory.

Even only closing her eyes would bring back the vision of Kurtis holding her down forcefully. The tomb raider knew it never really was him, but Karel's act was cruel and left a scar deep down in her heart. Lara always had been careful when it came to love, and this certainly didn't make it any easier. But how would she explain this to Kurtis in a way for him to understand, to not break his heart. She might not be able to love him, but she cared for the last of the Lux Veritartis.

It wouldn't be easy, but opening your heart to someone while you are just about to leave isn't really a perfect moment to show your love for someone. Or perhaps the American was taking this moment to find an excuse for not having to leave at all. Maybe he wanted to stay all along, with her. If that was indeed the case, this would make things even more difficult than it already was. She dared not to look at him, so when the tomb raider spoke again she looked down, studying the little stones of her front yard.

"Kurtis it's not you…it's…Karel. He was you, I can't…"

Lara could see he understood and respected what she meant. But those two looks also combined with a look of disappointment. Perhaps he also knew that it was not the time, the wound was too fresh and at least needed time to heal before even thinking about love again. He offered her a nod, showing the tomb raider he understood.

Instead of what he might have hoped to be a romantic kiss goodbye, the Lux Knight leaned forward and placed a soft gentle kiss on the tomb raider's cheek. Nothing about the kiss would lead to the word love. It was a kiss that emitted friendship, gratitude and recognition.

"It's alright Lara, I understand." He said, while backing away slowly.

"Thank you." Was all the said in response.

An awkward silence fell. Both were unsure of what to say, goodbye's were not easy, and the way Kurtis wanted to say goodbye sure didn't improve all this. As Lara slowly drifted away in the silence, thinking of a way to break it, she heard the American clearing his throat, starting the engine of the bike.

"Right, so…let's see how fast this bike of yours goes."

She was grateful for him to interrupt the awkwardness that slowly started surrounding them. If he hadn't they probably would still be staring around, pounding thoughts on how to break the silence. A smile formed on her face, the tomb raider slowly pulled away the distraught feelings she just had in her stomach.

"Are you joking? I take good care of my bikes, you'd be surprised how fast this one goes."

Kurtis narrowed his eyes. "You? Or is it secretly Zip who maintains them?" he asked with a smirk.

Lara gave him a friendly jab to the shoulders.

"Bloody hell no. I give Zip access to a lot of things, but my bikes are my own. He knows he enters a hazard zone if he even so much as touches them."

Kurtis laughed, and to test her theory he opened the gas a few times while keeping hold of the brakes. A deep but perfect rumbling sounded from the engine. Turns out the tomb raider was true to her word.

"Sure as hell sounds good, Lara." He said. "I guess I will be going then."

Lara offered him a small kind smile. "Bring it back in one piece?" she asked.

His smile was broader, but also a bit cheeky. "You know I will." He said.

Once again the Lux Knight opened the gas of the bike, only this time he didn't hold the brakes. Kurtis sped off the property. Lara watched him closely, and kept watching till there was nothing left of him on the horizon where he slowly disappeared. Lara hoped he would keep his word and come back one day. Not to give her bike back but perhaps in time the wound Karel had left behind in her heart, had been healed.


End file.
